The World in Black and White KidxKukuru
by Oraclespeaker
Summary: Kukuru  OC  has endured many trials, and on her first day at the DWMA,she finds herself in a dire situation. With Death the Kid taking Kukuru under his wing, the two form an unbreakble bond of friendship... or is it something else?
1. Prolouge

Soul Eater Fan Fiction

Kukuru x Kid

Soul Mates

Prologue

Please note

Soul Eater and characters from Soul Eater seen in this story 

belong to Funimation and other producers of the anime Soul 

Eater. I do not own anything except for the plot and OC 

characters.

Thank you for viewing my fan fiction.

I ran down the brightly lit halls of the DWMA, passing curious students and a myriad of classrooms.

I couldn't stop.

Nothing could stop me.

BLADE!

The only thought, the only name in my mind that drove me forwards.

I felt useless.

I continued to scour the DWMA at top speed, not daring to slow down, not daring to give into the gut wrenching pain in my sides and not even thinking about stopping to help my lungs stop straining so hard to get in a single breath of air.

I wasn't sweating.

It was too cold for that in the hallways, but even if it wasn't, I wouldn't care.

Suddenly I pictured Blade in a serious situation, standing on the verge of a cliff facing a kishin and having no meister to help him.

I shook the image out of my mind and kept running.

I had to calm down.

I had to think.

THINK!

Who do I know here?

Well, there was Lord Death…. But no. He shouldn't be bothered with so small a problem.

Professor Stein? Miss Marie? Death Scythe? No… they are teachers and very important people. They shouldn't be distracted from their work.

Then WHO? I don't know anyone else.

The students… they're all strangers.

I suddenly stopped running, my bare feet feeling the coldness of the tile underneath seep into them and the sides of my blonde hair settled onto my shoulders that were covered by a long sleeved gray shirt and a white, loose short sleeved shirt over it. I reached a cappuccino colored hand behind my head and checked my back part of my hair that was tied in a bun. It was still holding together. After that, I remembered why I stopped.

I _did_ know someone here.

Well, not directly. I've only heard about him.

This morning when I had been walking to my class, I overheard an albino boy talking to a blue haired tan skinned boy about someone named Death the Kid. I thought his name was a coincidence to Lord Death's name, but then I heard him say that this so-called Death the Kid was indeed Lord Death's son.

A Grim Reaper.

Surely he had to help, right?

Now having a target, I walked calmly through the halls, carefully studying everyone's faces and trying to determine if they were Kid or not.

As I walked, I noticed the pretty lights in the halls, like little stars lighting the way to a better future, unlike anything at my home, if I could even call it home. The creamy yellow of the halls and the intricate signs over the doors of classrooms were interesting to the look at and the smell of cleanliness and graphite filled the air. All around me was the chatting of students and scuffling of shoes across the ground.

I've never had shoes. My dad always believed that shoes were for babies and going barefoot everywhere made your feet strong. I always hated that, but he turned out to be right.

I froze. Right in front of me with his back to me was a black haired boy with three white stripes on one side of his head. He was wearing formal and neat attire that was black with tiny white rectangles on the shoulders.

That HAD to be him. He practically screamed Grim Reaper.

I looked past him to see what he was looking at. Some sort of bulletin board I think.

I wondered how long he would stay like that, just staring at the board unaware that he was being watched.

I crept closer towards him.

Soon I was about two feet from him.

My foot creaked on the floor and he whipped around.

It just struck me how handsome he was. He was wearing a Reaper skull brooch also, and his eyes. Oh God his eyes… They were a pool of molten gold so beautiful I wanted to stare at them forever.

"Excuse me? Do you need something?" His voice snapped me out of my trance.

I looked him in the eyes still. Suddenly, without warning, a pool of tears engulfed my eyes and I began to tremble.

"Are you all right?" Kid asked me, shocked by my sudden collapse into tears.

Without thinking, I reached out to him and buried my face in his chest, gripping his suit in my fists. And I just… sobbed.

And he let me.


	2. The Missing Blade

Chapter One

The Missing Blade

After the whole me breaking down into tears thing, Kid took me back to his place, which was incredibly HUGE and much fancier and yet simpler than my house. Or rather, my dad's house…

Kid had set me down on a black leather couch and gave me a cup of jasmine tea while he went to get his weapon partners.

At first I thought he had made a mistake when he said partners, as in plural, but when he didn't correct himself I let the thought pass. Maybe he did have two partners.

I took a sip of the tea. It warmed my stomach and tasted absolutely delicious, a blend of herbs and spice and "everything nice" as my dad once said, and only once. Not only did the tea warm me, but also filled some of my incredibly empty stomach.

I just realized I hadn't eaten anything that day except for the banana in the morning that had seemed like a feast at the time. Do I really need more food?

I had just spotted a tray of some sort of delicious looking fish and had been eyeing it hungrily just as Kid came back with two girls dressed in matching uniforms; a sleeveless dark red shirt that showed the wearer's stomach, a short white tie, and a gray and blue cowboy hat with boots. The only thing that didn't match was their pants, hair-color, hair length, and…. Well, I shouldn't go into that.

"You can have some." Kid said, catching my gaze at the tray of fish.

I blushed. I felt a little embarrassed about my staring but I accepted his offer and helped myself to a plate of the fish-stuff. I bit into it; its inside was steaming with warmth that filled my mouth. It had a faint taste, yet a pretty good one, and the sauce tasted of garlic and herbs that made my tongue quiver. I've never had anything so _rich_! I swallowed and it felt as though that little piece filled half of my stomach, which it probably had.

One of the girls, the taller one with chest length caramel hair, smiled at me and whispered just loud enough for me to hear, "It's as if she's never eaten anything in her whole life…."

I stared at her a moment and she froze at the slight touch of my gaze. Many people did that when I glared at them with my slightly droopy sky blue eyes. However, I never really thought of myself as intimidating and never meant to be in the first place. What did they see in my eyes that frightened them?

"Anyways, Kukuru, this is Liz," Kid said, gesturing to the long haired girl who had made the comment about me not eating anything, which was slightly true, "and this is Patty." He said gesturing to the other girl who was short haired, rosy cheeked, short haired and blonde like me.

Patty smiled at me and said, "Hehehe hellooooooo!"

I smiled shyly at them, "Hi. I'm Kukuru. I'm new at the DWMA."

"Now that we are all acquainted, maybe we can help you now," Kid took a seat on the couch opposite me and gestured for Liz and Patty to do the same, "What is it you need help with?"

I almost choked on my second bite of salmon but managed to swallow it without coughing anything up and said, "Well…. Um, as you probably have noticed, I came to the DWMA weaponless. You've probably assumed that I don't have a weapon, but actually…. I do. He's just…. I don't know where he is and I'm extremely worried about him! He said he'd be here but… b-but…" tears welled up in my eyes again, but I bade them not fall. Only a single tear fell and I wiped it away with the back of my hand.

Kid nodded, "I see. Do you have any idea where he might be or where you saw him last?"

I thought really hard as I calmed myself and coaxed myself into taking another sip of tea even though my stomach was already extremely full, "Well he could just be late but…." I thought of the night before and shivered and a black hole of guilt formed in the pit of my stomach, "last night we encountered a kishin egg. Blade, my weapon, transformed into this sort of hooked sword and said we could fight it, but I wasn't sure. I managed to land a hit on its leg, but it swatted me aside very easily and I almost broke a bone. I was terrified so…. So I threw Blade across the street and told him to run. I ran back into my house but the kishin didn't follow me. It could've gone after Blade and hurt him very bad, but I'm still uncertain."

"Look's like your weapon could be in some serious trouble." Liz said as she furrowed her eye brows while Patty stared off into space.

"What did the kishin egg look like?" Kid asked. I saw something behind his gold eyes that gave me hope.

"It looked like a sort of huge black beast. It had no eyes and long white talons. It looked like a dog minus its head." As I described it I shivered, feeling terrified for Blade. Not that I would be of much help if I alone found him…. But with a Grim Reaper, I might just stand a fighting chance. The black hole of guilt lingered, but a well of hope opened next to it and caused my skin to quiver.

"You're in luck Kukuru," Kid said; my heart skipped a beat, "I think I saw that kishin crawling out of Death City into the desert. I attempted to follow it, but it got away. It was dark then but its daylight now. We should be able to find it."

My face had formed a wide grin, "You'd really help me? Thank you so much! You have no idea!"

Kid returned my smile, "Let's go. Liz, Patty."

Liz nodded in agreement and Patty said enthusiastically, "Kay!"

I never thought I could be happier.

Kid led me through the front door of his house and onto the cobbled streets of Death City. We had ditched school so it was still morning and the freshly risen sun shone brightly down on us as I followed Kid and Liz. Patty, however, was walking along side me and asking me tons and tons of questions.

"Are you my sister like Liz 'cause you look a lot like me! Do you like candy and giraffes? Hehehe you're new aren't you? New people are fun! Oooo look a bird! Where do you live? Do you live here in Death City?" Patty asked, practically slurring her words together because she was talking so fast.

"Uh-er, I don't think I'm your sister, but you can be my friend and um…. What's candy? Is it that stuff people carry around in bright wrappers? Yes, I'm new, thanks, um and I live…." I didn't want to say where I used to live so I said where I live now, "at Death Weapon Meister Academy in one of the dorms."

Patty looked at me wide eyed, probably for more than one reason, "You've never had candy?" Somehow I knew she'd focus on the me-no-candy part of the conversation than me living at the academy, but I saw Liz whisper something to Kid and then Kid glanced in my direction and then back to Liz.

I wondered what they were talking about but then remembered Patty's question and I answered, "N-no. My dad never bought me sweets and my mom…" I had to lie about this one, "she left my dad." Ok, it wasn't a total lie. I just left out the part of why she left which would probably horrify them all.

"Wow. When we get back I should give you some candy! That'll make you happy!" Patty beamed and then, surprisingly, remained silent.

I looked around. We had come quite a way from Kid's house. In fact, we were almost at the gate of Death City which I could see the top of from where we were standing. I felt my shoulder brush something and looked to my left. Liz had slowed up and was walking along side me while Patty had sped up to talk to Kid.

"So um…. I couldn't help but overhear your conversation with Patty. She loves to talk doesn't she?" Liz said smiling a little awkwardly. She probably wasn't quite used to me yet.

I nodded and she continued, "So… you live at the Academy?"

I nodded again even though I knew where this conversation was going. I didn't want to tell any of them, not even Kid, about my dad. Yet.

"Did you live somewhere before?" Liz inquired gently.

"Yes, obviously. Listen, I wouldn't like to be bothered about my past life until I feel more comfortable with you ok?" My voice wasn't harsh. It was more small and pleading. Broken. Broken because my father had broken _me_….

Liz looked at me like she understood how I felt, "Ok. I'm sorry." She walked up with Kid again, leaving me alone behind the group with my thoughts.

I nearly started to cry again as I remembered my mother on that fateful day when I was five and how she pleaded with my father to stay. It was so vivid I could nearly hear their voices echoing in my ears, angry and loud. I could sense the heat in the air. I could feel my father's rough hand hold me around my waist and the cold glint of the knife in his other….

"Kukuru? Kukuru are you all right?"

I looked up. I saw Kid's golden eyes staring worriedly into my blue ones. I sense something on my face and when I touched it, my cheeks where wet with tears. I wiped them away with my hand and realized we were at the gate.

I sniffed and said, "Yes, yes I'm ok. Just some dust in my eyes…"

I could tell he didn't believe me.

"Ok then… well, let's go." Kid's shoulder blades flexed as he pushed the doors open. It was then that I realized that despite his lean body, he had a great deal of strength. The opposite of me, a frail, weak, pitiful girl who couldn't even find her weapon on her own….

With the doors open, the endless sand dunes stretched out before us and the wind blew fiercely sending sand whirling into the air.

I walked through behind Patty and Liz and Kid shut the gate behind us.

"Patty, Liz, weapon form." He told them.

"Oh boy another flight…" Liz said sarcastically.

"Kay!" Patty chirped.

I was fascinated. I'd finally be able to see what Lord Death's son's weapons were. I watched as Liz and Patty glowed pink and transformed into two identical twin pistols, each landing in one of Kid's hands.

"Symmetry," He told me as he placed Liz and Patty inside his jacket pockets, "is key. Everything must be aesthetically pleasing."

So, this was what made Mr. Perfect not so perfect? I knew OCD when I saw it because my cousin had OCD, but hers was an obsession with keeping clean. Kid's seemed to be the "everything must be perfect" kind of obsession.

"Right," Kid muttered to himself, then turning to me he asked, "Do you have a flying device of any sort? It's going to take us a while to find that kishin egg and it won't do us any good walking around on the ground."

I was stunned by the question. How I wished I had something that could lift me high into the clear, warm air above, but sadly my answer was, "No…."

"Alright then. We can share the space on Beelzebub then." Kid said.

Just as I was about to ask what he meant by "Beelzebub", he said something so low I couldn't hear it over the small gusts of wind buffeting us with warm air. Suddenly, a black skateboard with red wheels and a teal underbelly appeared out of thin air. I almost tripped over myself when I jumped from the surprise of it.

Kid placed the skateboard on the ground and the sand gave a barely audible scrunch of protest. He stood on top of it and offered a hand, "Coming?"

"What good is a skateboard in a desert?" I asked, curious enough to challenge Kid's offer.

"Trust me." He replied, his pale hand still outstretched. A predictable answer.

I took his hand and stepped onto the skateboard and stood directly in front of Kid. Look at this mess, I thought. Here I am, standing on a skateboard in the middle of a desert with Lord Death's own flesh and blood staring me in the face. This was not how I pictured my first day at the Academy.

Suddenly, the skateboard _rose up into the air_. I mean, like literally _flew_. A skateboard. _FLEW_. I was so shocked, I nearly fell off. I tried to regain my balance but it's kind of hard to balance on a flying skateboard with two people on it. To keep me from falling, Kid reached out and held my shoulders to steady me.

"You might want to hang on to something." Kid remarked, a bit late on my account.

I grabbed a fistful of his suit with each hand and he let my shoulders go, replacing his hands in his pockets as we zoomed over the desert.

"So… a flying skateboard named Beelzebub?" I asked.

Kid just nodded. I felt the skateboard shift as we started to turn to the left, the backside of Death City facing us. The wind whipped the loose, blonde strands of hair on the sides of my head and the black slightly long hair of Kid's, both contrasting colors blending as the blew in the wind.

I felt a sudden pang of hopelessness. What if we couldn't find the kishin? What if Blade wasn't with the kishin but somewhere else, far away? What if Blade was already dead?  
>I could feel tears prick my eyes again. Why was I such a wimp? Did I really have to break down every time I even just thought of something sad? Let me just say, it sucks to have your soul broken.<p>

"There!" Kid suddenly shouted. Beelzebub suddenly swerved back the way we had came. I looked in the direction we were headed and saw a huge rust-colored rock with a dark cave near the top. My heart pounded. Dark scary caves= me having a break down. Again.

I started trembling but Kid, noticing my uncertainty, looked down at me and said, "C'mon. We need to do this. If you want to see your weapon again, we have to go. Hey," He lifted my chin so I was staring at his sympathetic face, "It'll be fine."

I felt a sudden rush of relief as I realized I was with Lord Death's son. Surely no Kishin egg would be much of a match for him.

I heard Liz, talking in a muffled voice as she rested in weapon form in Kid's pocket, "Are we there yet?"

"Hush, Liz. Liz, Patty, prepare yourselves. We've found the cave so get ready for a fight." Kid said as we neared the mouth of the cave.

"A-A c-c-c-ave?" Liz asked, suddenly sounding fearful.

"Hahaha c'mon sis! Caves are sooo cool!" Patty laughed in a light, content voice.

I heard Liz stifle a shriek, and then there was blackness.

"Stay close." I heard Kid whisper as we crept along the edges of the cave. Like I was stupid enough to leave his side! I was weaponless, courageless, and powerless to try anything on my own.

By this time, we had preceded far enough into the cave that I could barely see anything. I could just make out the glint of Liz and Patty's weapon forms in Kid's hands as we descended further into the enveloping darkness.

_Crunch! _

My heart thudded to a stop. Kid motioned for me to stay still.

_Crunch! Crunch!_

I drew in a breath but said nothing.

_Sluuuurp!_

That did it. My blood ran cold and I gripped Kid's arm tightly, holding back a scream. The kishin was here, and it was eating souls. A lot of souls. Like enough souls that it looked as though the kishin had killed everyone in Death City. Of course, he hadn't, but that was how the glow of the human souls looked.

The blue and white beams lit up a huge, cavernous section of the cave, giving the walls and everything around it an eerie glow. My knees felt weak and threatened to give away, but I forced my legs to stay upright.

I barely noticed Kid coming close to my ear, and before I registered his breath on my neck he whispered, "Be quiet and stay here."

As he left me in the small passage that lead into the room where the kishin lurked, a feeling of dread ate away my insides. I was so, so scared. I had half a mind to run after him, but that would risk the kishin egg hearing me and attacking us both.

_Scrunch!_

"Damn!"

Oh no.

The kishin…. Kid…. The noise….

The world around me was working in slow motion. I saw the black silhouette of the kishin egg charge at the other, smaller silhouette which was Kid. I heard loud blasts of a gun being set off, and saw pinkish beams of soul wavelengths hurtling through the air. After that, it all looked like stop motion animation. A shot would light up the air; the kishin would be in the air, Kid staring up at it. A second shot, the kishin on the ground snarling at Kid. The third shot, a large, clawed hand outstretched, ready to strike…

I heard the impact before I saw it. I heard a distinct smacking noise and a noise from Kid as he was launched off the ground and hit a wall opposite the kishin egg.

"Kid!" I hear myself shriek.

Great. That was a really smart idea. Suddenly, I heard loud tramping noises as the kishin made its way towards me. I was frozen in fear, and just when I thought it was the end, the kishin's large shadow towering in front of me, ready to strike, I felt someone touch my arm.

A good someone.

"Quick, get ready!" Blade yelled as he transformed into the silver hooked sword which was his main weapon form.

My clothes shimmered and became my fighting clothes I was newly familiar with. The white fabric of the short sleeved, belly exposing shirt replaced my layered long sleeved shirt and short sleeved tee, golden bangles hanging off the bottom rim, touching my skin with their cold surfaces. The long, white skirt with maroon stripes on the front and black striped designs around the white and maroon stripes nearly covered my feet. With Blade in my hands, I felt more confident than I had been before. But I was still scared out of my wits.

I struck with my hooked sword up at the kishin when it was close enough. It howled in pain and retreated. That should've done the job. That should have been when the soul of the kishin egg appeared and the kishin should have disappeared.

But it didn't.

It retreated into the darkness, its silhouette still visible. I looked around to see if I would see Kid's but I couldn't. Out of the darkness came a sudden dark light, and I heard Liz and Patty say some things to Kid and then suddenly the room was lit with a huge blast from Kid's pistols. Except, right now, they weren't pistols. They were cannons. Cannons that had encased Kid's hands and arms in their shiny metal. There were three tall spikes on each of Kid's shoulders and the blast coming out of the cannons was so bright (either that or it was so sudden out of the darkness) that I had to look away as it struck the kishin.

I heard a spine chilling shriek from the kishin and a loud _BOOM_.

Then, mixed among the blue and white souls of innocent humans, there was a small, corrupt looking red soul. A kishin egg.

It hadn't taken us long to get back to Kid's house. I finally had Blade back, and he had told me all that had happened in weapon form when we had flown from the cave back to the mansion on Beelzebub. The night I had ran back to the house, the kishin had tried to attack the house, but he didn't want that to happen, so he had shouted at the kishin to get its attention. Realizing he wouldn't be able to do much on his own, Blade had ran down the streets of Death City, but the kishin had caught up with him and carried him back to the cave. The kishin had gotten close to getting Blade's soul, but Blade had managed to hide in a knick in the cave wall where the kishin egg couldn't reach him. He had stayed there until he had heard Kid and I come to save him. When he heard my voice, that convinced him to come and help. And, well, the rest I knew.

Blade gave me a tiny smile as he watched me eat a meal actually fit for a human being, "You're already looking healthier than when you were at your dad's."

"You really think? I mean, of course I am. Jeez that…. That…. Ugh that failure of a father really did a number on me, but I am done with him, sooo ya." I said as I filled my mouth with another heaping fork-full of spaghetti.

Kid had gone to fetch some things to help clean Blade up and treat his own wounds as well. Patty was coloring on a piece of paper and Liz was painting her nails a vibrant pink color. It all seemed so welcoming and friendly that I kind of wished I didn't have to go back to my boarding room at the DWMA.

Kid re-entered the room carrying a tray of bandages and antiseptics. He handed Blade a couple of wipes and plopped the tray down on the long table in the middle of the room. I was sitting in the chair closest to it, Blade sitting right across from me. Liz was on my left and Patty was across from her. Kid took a seat on my right.

I nibbled my salad that had come with the spaghetti and watched the boys dabble antiseptics on the tiny scrapes they had gotten in the cave.

I was just realizing how clear my head felt after the meal when Blade spoke to Kid, "Thank you for helping Kukuru find me. It would have been hard on her own."

Kid looked up from the tray of medicine and said, "No problem. It's my duty to help other misters or weapons in need of assistance."

Realizing that I should probably say something too, I turned in my chair to Kid, "Yes. Thank you so much. You have no idea…"

We sat in awkward silence for a bit until I realized that it was dark out and said, "I guess Blade and I should get back to the DWMA huh…"

"Oh um, about that…" Kid started, "the DWMA is a nice school and all, and it's just that, it's not really that homely."

I pursed my lips and wondered where he was going with this. Liz looked up from her nails, but Patty just kept coloring, completely oblivious.

"Well, Liz, Patty and I would be more than welcome to allow you to stay here." Kid said smoothly.

My face lit up and I eagerly said, "Yes, yes! Thank you so much!"

Blade nodded, "Ya, I suppose so. The DWMA or Kukuru's houses aren't really the best options."

I beamed at Blade and he gave me another tiny smile. I had a nice home, good friends (The GRIM REAPER as a friend? Booya!), and my weapon back.

My life was slowly turned from worse to better.


	3. One Father Too Many

Chapter Two

One Father Too Many

"HEEEEYYY BLADE! WAKE UP! IT'S TIME FOR SCHOOOOOOL!" I hollered as I passed Blade's room on the way to the main room for some breakfast.

I heard him grumble lazily and skipped light-heartedly into the huge room of Kid's mansion with the long wooden table in it.

"Finally. I was beginning to think you'd never get up." Liz teased.

I rolled my eyes and sat next to Patty who was giggling at her plate which had two fried eggs and a piece of bacon that made a smiley face on it.

Blade clumsily walked into the room, black hair a mess. For a moment, it looked as if he couldn't remember where he was, but then his expression cleared and he took a seat at the table across from Patty.

I didn't want to be rude, but I was terribly hungry so I asked, "Um, where's the rest of breakfast?"

"Kid's finishing it right now…" Liz said, fidgeting with a pair of nail clippers.

I smiled to myself at the thought of Kid cooking breakfast, in an apron and chef hat. I nearly laughed out loud but restrained myself and waited patiently while Blade, Liz, and I all sat in an uncomfortable silence, Patty laughing in the background.

Finally, Kid walked into the room with a tray of food with some plates on it in his left hand and balancing a stack of four other plates in his right hand.

Just to be polite, I said, "Here, let me help with that," and got up out of my seat and took the plates from his right hand and setting them on the table.

"Thanks." Kid said with a friendly smile as he set the tray down in the middle of Patty and Blade.

I took my seat next to Patty again as Kid distributed breakfast and then he took a seat across from me.

"Mmmm looks good." Blade complimented coolly. I was surprised at his calmness, because usually Blade was a sarcastic, joking nut, but then realized he probably wasn't comfortable yet with his new surroundings. Ah, well, I'll give him a week, I thought, he'll be cracking stupid jokes and pulling pranks in no time.

Blade was right. The food was fantastic, bacon and eggs. I've had eggs, but never ever, EVER bacon, and I have to say, for a pig's rear end, it was pretty good.

"Alright, we'd better hurry." Liz said, looking up at the clock.

"Kay'!" Patty said as she quickly ran back into the recesses of the house to get something.

"Would you get out of those PJ's Blade? Seriously…" I said to him.

Suddenly, Blade had an alarmed look on his face, his brown eyes panicked, and then rushed out of the room to get dressed.

I laughed silently to myself and waited by the front door in my casual jeans and white and gray shirts. Liz walked over and joined me and Kid leaned against the wall on the other side of me. We waited in awkward silence until Patty scrambled towards the front door and nodded, her hat now in its proper place atop her head.

Growing impatient, Liz yelled, "Hurry up, Blade! We don't have all morning!"

Blade suddenly emerged from his room, dressed in proper day clothes, that is, his slightly baggy, dark jeans, teal shirt, and white sweatshirt with two thin, dark teal, vertical stripes on one side and then a thicker teal horizontal stripe that crossed paths with the vertical stripes.

"Let's go." Blade said, hands in his jacket pockets.

Suddenly, Kid seemed agitated by Blade and then I realized why when he said, "Couldn't you have worn something a little more symmetrical?"

Blade seemed lost at the comment and replied, "Erm, is it a problem?"

Kid's eyebrows furrowed in frustration, "Just a bit, yes."

Blade shrugged, maintaining his temporary "cool", "Oh well. I don't really have anything else. Most of my stuff is back at my place. It is really fit for living conditions so I should probably retrieve them later today…"

With a pang, I realized that I'd have to get the rest of the few possessions I owned from my father's house too. I wasn't looking forward to that.

"Well, no use worrying about it now, right?" Liz said, "Let's just get to the academy or we'll all be late."

With great reluctance, Kid turned his gaze from Blade and opened the door of the manor. A rush of cool air emanated from the open doorway and outside the weather was extremely dreary. The sky was filled with dark, threatening clouds and the air smelled of rain, a rare one for Death City. I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard a distant _boom!_

I felt a hand on my shoulder, "It's just thunder."

I looked over and saw Kid's calm face and felt reassured, so we began walking towards the academy, the beginnings of a storm looming over our heads.

That whole day, I stuck to Kid like glue to paper. I still didn't know anyone there besides him, Liz, and Patty and was still extremely shy. I had history classes with this guy named Sid, a guy who apparently used to be a regular human being until he willingly became a zombie. It made me a little nervous being there, but Stein's class was even worse. Stein, this crazy scientist-like person who had this huge screw in his head and stitches on himself and even his clothes, was obsessed with dissecting things. To add to the whole creepy effect, his glasses reflected the light from the light bulbs or from the windows whenever he said something that really made chills run up my spine.

Despite the creepy teachers, I never thought it would be so fun to learn things. It was such a weird, exciting experience for me that by the time we got to P.E. I was ecstatic to come back and learn more.

P.E. was fun, especially for Blade. In that class, we basically trained with our weapons in the gym. I got to try out Blade's three weapon forms for the second time. I really like the first one I tried, which was this long, silver sword with a sharp hook at the end. It proved to be my favorite to use. Blade's other forms, I learned, were a silver-staffed soul wavelength staff with a blue orb at one end and four burgundy demon wings around the base of the orb. The last form of Blades was a golden shield with a red "X" on the front and four deadly looking spikes sticking out of the middle.

Currently, sitting and waiting for the school day to end, I sat in the library (which is freakin' HUGE) reading a book on soul resonance (which I am hoping to attempt soon!) when Blade walked over and sat by me with this gigantic stack of books.

"Do you really believe you'll be able to read all those books anytime soon?" I asked, turning the next page in my book.

"No, but I can try." Blade said simply.

There was silence for a while, so I read on, not expecting him to say anything else, but he did anyways, "Have you thought about what you'll do when you go back to your dad's house to get your stuff?"

My stomach twisted in a knot at the mention of my dad and I immediately closed my book, "I don't know. I really don't want to go back there."

The middle of my chest began throbbing again and I pressed a hand against it. This happened frequently to me, why, I cannot say. I don't even know why. Maybe there is something wrong with my heart. I don't know, but it's happened all the time since I was about five years old. Right around the time my mom was force….. Er, left.

"Didn't you have something back there that really mattered to you? Have you forgotten about your mom's pendant?" Blade asked, looking up from his book.

I huffed out a breath as I remembered me forgetting to take that with me to my first day of school, "I nearly forgot… oh, I just don't know how to confront him! He's just going to hurt me again…"

"Who's going to hurt you again?" Kid asked in a concerned voice as he suddenly appeared next to Blade, Liz and Patty absent from his presence.

I noticed Blade about to say something, and I was apprehensive about telling Kid the struggles between me and my dad, but realized I probably should just tell him anyways so I silenced Blade with a gesture of my hand and began explaining, "Well, um, my dad…"

Kid's eyes widened, "What?"

"Um, I don't want my dad to hurt me again… he always does…" I said cautiously and quietly.

Kid looked horrified, and asked darkly, "Why is that? What kind of a father would do such a thing?"

"That's what I want to know…" I said, and surprise surprise, my eyes filled with tears again as I poured out everything.

I told Kid about how when I was five, my father suddenly went mad and threatened my mother that he would kill me if she didn't leave. So, as expected, my mother left me to my fate, not wanting to hurt her little daughter. My father then began having me complete massive amounts of labor, rewarding me with tiny amounts of food which explained why I looked like an anorexic person.

I told Kid how my father isolated me from the outside world so I never had any friends or gotten any education except the very basics like reading, writing, and small amounts of math and science, but no history. I explained about his abusive ways, like how if I asked for more food or didn't do what I was told, my father would beat me senseless and literally throw me up the stairs and into my tiny bedroom, leaving me there for hours, sometimes a day or two, without any food or drink.

I finally ended with how Blade had convinced me to leave my father behind and attend the DWMA.

By the time I was done, Kid's face expressed several emotions; anger, pity, compassion, and hatred.

"Kukuru, why didn't you tell me before?" Kid asked.

"I was nervous to tell you…. I don't know. I guess I didn't want to trouble you." I replied softly.

I heard footsteps nearby and looked towards the stairs to see a dark creamy haired, green eyed girl dressed in a black overcoat with a green and yellow tie on and a short, red, plaid shirt with these really cool black, buckled shoes closely followed by an albino looking boy who was wearing a headband with two patches on it with something written on them, a yellow and black jacket, burgundy jeans, and yellow and black shoes that matched his jacket. The two were followed by a boy with spiky blue hair, green eyes, and dressed in a black, white, and silver outfit that seemed to fit the description of an assassin, and a girl whose long black hair was drawn back into a ponytail, indigo colored eyes, and wore an outfit consisting of a dark brown scarf, a pale yellow, sleeveless, dress with a slit on one side, wrist bands, and a yellow star on my left side of her outfit.

"Hey Kid! Who are they?" The dark cream colored haired girl asked.

Kid quickly wiped all emotion off of his face and I looked in the other direction long enough to remove any traces of my (lets' see um…) third breakdown in less than two days.

"Ah, Kukuru, meet Maka. Maka, this is Kukuru, a new meister I helped just yesterday." Kid said.

"Hello!" Maka smiled at me.

I waved shyly just as Blade said, "And what am I, chop liver?"

"Oh, sorry. Maka, this is Blade, Kukuru's weapon." Kid said, gesturing towards Blade.

"Hey, I bet you all know who _I _am!" The blue haired kid shouted, suddenly jumping out of nowhere in between Kid and Maka.

I looked up at his confident face, wondering and then realized, "Hey, wait a second… You're that guy I overheard talking about Kid! And you," I pointed at the albino boy, "I saw you too!"

The blue haired boy seemed a little set off but then he "corrected" me, "No, no, no. You must be new here. Let me just tell you that my name is the Great and Almighty Blackstar! You'll hear my name everywhere for here on out, because I am the greatest assassin ever and will transcend the Gods! Just count on that you won't ever here the last of me in these parts!" And then Blackstar went off into this crazy laughing fit. I swear I'd never seen a more boastful person in my life.

The girl with the long black ponytail, who looked a little sheepish at the moment, said, "Sorry about that. I'm Tsubaki, Blackstar's weapon."

Blade nodded and I said, "Hi."

"What about you?" Blade asked the albino boy.

"I'm Soul, Maka's weapon partner." Soul said simply.

I smiled and Blade, who seemed satisfied, closed his book and placed it on the stack of books he had brought with him up the steps.

"Well, uh, Kid, we're going to hang out at our place after school today if you want to come. Kukuru, Blade, you both can come too if you want." Maka invited.

I was a little bit shocked at first, actually meeting new people and hanging out with them and stuff was something I didn't really have much knowledge in, but Blade said, "Ya, sure. Sounds cool."

"Alright then," Maka beamed, "School should be over soon. We'll meet you guys there."

Maka walked off with Soul and Blackstar high-tailed it to the comic book section of the library, Tsubaki following closely.

The three of us left were silent a bit longer until Kid sighed and said, "Well, at least this'll give us time to sort out a solution to get back inside your dad's house. I'd better go find Liz and Patty," Kid began walked off, hands in pockets, "I'll be back."

"I'm glad we're meeting new people already." I said to Blade absent-mindedly as I picked up my book again.

Blade huffed out a breath through his nose and just stared off at the other side of the library where Blackstar ran off to with Tsubaki.

Suddenly, the throbbing of my chest increased and it developed into a tolerable pain. Oh dear. I knew what came after this. Maybe I should just stay back at Kid's house instead of go to Maka and Soul's place. It would be smarter, because if I was right, I'd be in for a one hell of an afternoon.

_BRRRRRRRRRRR! _The sound of the buzzing bell echoed of the walls of the library and made me jump, nearly tossing the book out of my hands. Whatever, I thought. It might just go away…

I checked out my book when we got to the main floor of the library and Blade checked out four or five of his huge stack and Kid, alongside Liz and Patty, joined us at the door.

"Hehehe I can't wait to get to Maka's!" Patty squeaked excitedly as we left the DWMA.

"Just so that you don't freak, it's only fair to warn you that not just Maka and Soul live at their apartment…" Liz began, somewhat reluctant, "there's a, um, cat that lives there too…"

"Why would a cat freak me out?" I asked curiously. What, did Liz think I was allergic or something?

"Well, um, she's kind of also a human…" Liz said, "a dirty-minded cat-human. Her name is Blair, and Blade, if she gets an eye for you, just, I don't know, try to avoid her…"

Blade looked a little nervous but then cleared it up with a sarcastic phrase, "Wondrous. I can't wait."

I was about to roll my eyes when the next step I took seem to split my body right down the middle. I shrieked loudly and fell to the ground, chest burning in pain. I closed my eyes but felt the tears fall anyways. It was happening again.

I opened my eyes again to see what the others were doing. Through my tear blurred vision, I could see Kid leaning over me, concern and a tiny bit of panic in his eyes. He was trying to talk to me, but my ears were ringing with the pain rendering me unable to hear him. I was also unable to speak.

Blade looked horrified and kept yelling something. Patty looked worried and Liz seemed to be trying to get me to talk.

I curled into a ball on the ground, clutching my shoulders, trying to speak, but all that came out were shrieks of pain. Suddenly, I felt myself being lifted up off the ground and realized that Kid had picked me up and we was running somewhere fast, Blade, Liz and Patty close behind.

I looked up at Kid's determined and worried face, wondering if this was the worst I'd had these huge pain fits, when I lost all grip on consciousness and passed out.

When I woke up, the excruciating pain was gone. I kept my eyes closed because they still ached a little, but I knew I was on a couch somewhere. When I finally opened my eyes, my heart thudded but then calmed down again and I sighed a breath of relief.

Kid, Liz, Blade, Patty, Maka, Soul, Tsubaki, Blackstar, a purple haired girl, and two other people I didn't recognize, one who seemed much older than everyone else in the group and another who looked extremely pale and nervous looking. The elder was dark skinned and had dark hair with bandages wrapped around most parts of her body.

The other forlorn looking guy had light purplish- pinkish hair and pale blue eyes and seemed to be wearing a long black robe. It was probably a trick of my eyes, but I thought I saw another person sticking out of the person's back…

The purple haired girl had cat ears on her head so I made the assumption that it was the cat lady that Liz had been talking about, or Blair.

"Kukuru?" Blade said apprehensively and in a relieved way.

I looked up at him and Kid who were standing closest to my head. Relief flooded their faces and I sat up, folding my legs underneath me comfortably.

"How did I get here?" I asked, still a little groggy.

"Kid carried you all the way here and Blair took Maka and Soul to go get Nygus. She's the nurse at the DWMA." Blade explained, nodding towards the dark woman.

"Yes, when I got here, you were already passed out, but in your unintentional slumber, your body was still in immense pain. I gave you a muscle relaxer, several in fact, but I still wasn't able to figure out what was causing the pain. Do you know anything about it?" Nygus asked me.

I sighed heavily and then answered, "No. I've had this happen before but never this bad."

Nygus looked surprised, "How often does this happen?"

"Twice a month. Sometimes more, sometimes less, but on average it normally happens two times a month." I answered.

Nygus furrowed her eyebrows and looked at the wall beyond me, "Hmm."

Suddenly, Maka gasped. All heads turned towards her, wondering what caused her to gasp.

Maka, noticing everyone looking at her, looked at me with a concerned face, "Kukuru… it's…. you're soul, it's…"

I was now in for another shock, I could just feel it, "Maka?"

"It's….. it's like it's in pieces! It's broken into three pieces!" Maka said, astonished.

All heads then swiveled in my direction, all except Kid's, who was staring hard at Maka, "Are you sure?"

"Positive. I can see it very clearly now. It looks extremely painful. Nygus, do you think that's what caused the pain fits?" Maka asked.

"That could be a high probability… But I've never heard of someone having a broken soul so I wouldn't know." Nygus stated, inspecting me from head to foot with her eyes.

Kid seemed to grow a little agitated, "Do you know _how _this could've happened?"

Nygus thought a moment and something clicked just as Tsubaki said, "Well, you know how in some books, people say they beat people to break their spirits? Maybe that happened to Kukuru."

I locked eyes with Blade and Kid. We knew exactly who that was, but true to their words, they didn't say a single word.

"It's possible, but I think for now we should leave Kukuru alone. She's had quite the day and I don't think she needs anymore pestering," Nygus said, sensing my discomfort, "Kid, Blade, Liz, Patty, keep an eye on her when I'm not around. This is very odd indeed and I should probably let Doctor Stein know about this. He'd know more than I do."

I shivered a little at Stein's name but let the thought pass. Knowing what I knew about Stein, Nygus was probably right.

"You were really stealing my show earlier! You'd better be careful, doing that!" Blackstar warned, not really seriously but not really jokingly either.

I smiled apologetically and said, "Ya, ok, sorry oh mighty assassin!"

Blackstar seemed satisfied and looked as if he were to glorify in the title "mighty assassin" which I bestowed upon him for a moment, but then let it pass and walked off with Soul to find some food. I sat on the couch talking to Tsubaki and Liz while Maka was preparing food for us, Blade and Kid keeping a close eye on me like Nygus instructed.

A few moments later, Maka came out of the kitchen with bowls and plates of food followed by Soul. Blackstar was following close behind, carrying a bowl of rice that he was consuming at lightning speed.

Maka placed the food down and we all marveled at it a moment and then began to dig in. Between bites of food, we exchanged stories, told jokes, and did all sorts of other things that I thought I'd never get to participate in. I was also introduced to the pale kid whose name was Crona and apparently had black blood, so his weapon, Ragnarok, was in fact the little thing I thought was attached to Crona's back.

Through all our fun, Blade and I had completely forgotten about Blair until she showed up, stark naked, in the doorway, inviting the boys craftily to come and join her in the next room over. Soul got a nosebleed and was on the floor, Blackstar was oblivious (or at least pretending to be), Kid had his head in his hands, Crona seemed disturbed and nervous, and Blade face palmed and looked the other way, trying not to notice.

Eventually, Maka told Blair off and we continued our festivities until about eight o'clock.

"What a late ending." I said tiredly as I was about to step out the apartment door.

"Pfft late? You should see how late we hang out till on weekends." Soul remarked.

"Well, excuse me Mr. Cool." I taunted sarcastically.

Soul rolled his eyes and we all said our goodbyes. We walked some ways with Blackstar and Tsubaki before they left too.

Patty was conversing with me about the moon and the crazy face on it when we arrived at the mansion and Kid silenced her, ushering everyone inside except myself and Blade.

"Blade, I have a plan to help Kukuru, so if you want to help…" Kid began solemnly.

Blade looked over at Kid and then at Kukuru, "Actually, as much as I'd like to help Kukuru, I can't take her dad for more than two seconds. It wouldn't be wise of me to accompany you."

Kid nodded and Blade walked inside the manor, shutting the door behind him without another word. At first, I was totally mad at Blade, but then realized he was right. Blade and my father had met once, and it didn't end well for either of them.

"Kukuru… I've decided. I'll accompany you to your dad's house in case anything goes wrong, but you must go in alone. I've noticed your lack of courage, and I just want you to have more confidence in yourself. Please, just try this." Kid said, noting that my face got paler and paler as he talked.

"What? No way! If I get caught… Oh jeez, I'll screw it up somehow…" I stuttered fretfully.

"Kukuru," Kid placed a hand on my shoulder and I met his golden eyes once more, "just try. I'll be right outside. You can accomplish this if you set your mind to it."

I was shaking uncontrollably at the thought of me getting caught by my dad, but deep inside I knew that Kid was right. I had to try.

I heaved out a huge breath and said, "Ok. But please, stay close to the house."

Kid nodded, "If you're in trouble, just scream as loud as you can."

"Ok."

We crept under the cover of darkness towards the rickety shack that was my father's home. The wooden boards around the house were covered with splinters, the windows covered with a musty film of dust and all of them were cracked.

"This dump is where you lived all your life?" Kid asked, his nose wrinkling at the sight of it.

"It didn't always used to look this awful." I commented, thinking about the short five years when my mother was around.

Kid shrugged and we walked up to the front door of the shack, Kid holding an umbrella over our heads because the first raindrops of the massive storm had begun to fall on our way to my dad's house. I reached out to touch the rusty doorknob, my hands shaking with fear. As it turns out, Kid had the exact same thought as me, that is, he reached for the handle too, so our fingers touched ever so lightly, and for some odd reason, I blushed. Kid, noticing my discomfort, withdrew his hand slowly and allowed me to open the door.

I stepped inside and gave a last, unconvincing smile to Kid before I stepped inside and shut the door.

Inside the house, it was eerily quiet. I looked about at the dark room, my heart pounding. The shadows in the corners of the main room of the house could easily conceal my father, but I tried not to think of that and climbed the rickety staircase up into my tiny room. I opened my drawers of the dresser and found my mother's pendant. I took that and some extra clothing items and stuffed them into a cloth sack. I slung the sack over my shoulder and proceeded to leave my bedroom, feeling way more accomplished than before. I had actually done it!

But, unfortunately for me, I kind of jinxed myself.

As I retreated from the room, I suddenly felt someone move behind me, and then, as fast as lightning, my father pulled one of my arms back, causing me to cry out in pain and shoved my head onto the floor, splinters finding their way into my forehead. As I stared into the coarse wood flooring, he bound my wrists together with a thick cord.

"You've been a naughty girl, Kukuru. I thought you knew better than to run away!" My father said, his voice causing my skin to crawl.

My dad, that monster, that _thing _then held me a foot off the ground by gripping the beginning of where my bun met the back of my head, my head screaming with the pain of my hair being pulled so hard.

"You know what happens now?" My father asked creepily, his other hand reaching for something behind him.

I tried to scream, but I was paralyzed by fear and pain. I knew what was going to happen now. My dad pulled a gleaming knife from out of the darkness, its edge getting closer and closer to my skin. Time seemed to slow and I was growing steadily more anxious every passing second. Then, the blade point made contact with my clothes, and then pierced my stomach. Now I had the energy to scream.

I screamed as loud as my throat and lungs would allow, and I thought of the great irony of the situation when my father said, "No one will come for you, girl. There aren't any heroes to come to your aid tonight."

I heard the door burst open and my dad's grip loosened, allowing me to lean my head down and bite my dad's hand hard enough to cause his arm to retract in pain and drop the knife, but not before it tore across my stomach, causing blood to stain my white shirt and the darker long sleeved shirt I was wearing. In his pain, he also let go of my hair, giving me a window to escape, which I took. I tore through the door and down the stairs where I full on ran into Kid. We toppled over, but he immediately recovered and took my arm forcibly and pulled me to my feet. Soon, we were running out the front door of my dad's house, my sack of belongings hanging snugly on my back but wounds aching terribly.

I looked behind me at my dad's house as we ran to find that my father was not following us, but one look at Kid and his eyes seemed to light on fire, "You'll pay for this! You'll never get away with taking my daughter!"

Kid's face was emotionless as we ran off into the night back to the safety of Kid's mansion.

"Oh my God… what the fu-…" Blade began as he saw Kid supporting me as I entered the mansion.

I smiled sheepishly as we entered, "Our visit didn't exactly go as planned."

"Liz!" Blade yelled as he helped Kid set me down on the couch.

"What?" Liz yelled back as she ran into the room. Her eyes widened when she saw my condition and she immediately ran off for something to help.

"Again…. What happened?" Blade asked worriedly.

"Well, I went inside to get my things, my dad nearly tore my torso off my body, but we got away before he did any real damage." I recited.

Kid shook his head, "You said your dad hurt you, but you didn't say that he hurts you this badly."

Liz re-entered the room with a medical bag and snipped the lower portion of my shirt to fix up my cut. Blade was pulling small splinters from my face and Kid loosed the cord that had been binding my arms together. What is it with me injuries? Or more rather, why did my dad give me so many of them?

It turned out that the cut on my stomach wasn't as deep as I had expected and Liz was able to take care of it. In the morning, a ton of bruises showed up on my body and I suffered from a bad headache, but otherwise, I was feeling pretty good. I had managed to get away from my father mostly on my own. My first actual victory over another person, another living being, was keeping me from being too shaky at the academy.

We reported the incident to Lord Death, of course, and he promised to keep an eye on my father's estate. Something peculiar happened when I met him for the first time, though. Lord Death looked at me once, just once, and muttered something about seeing me before. I think he just made a mistake and saw some other person who looked like me, and I just shrugged it off.

Somehow, the news of what happened had gotten around the academy too, and I was receiving sympathetic looks from everyone. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad they care, but I felt uncomfortable to be the center of attention.

Oh well. I'm just glad I'm alive right now.


	4. Witchcraft and Kishin Eggs

Chapter Three

Witchcraft and Kishin Eggs

That afternoon I had a meeting scheduled with Doctor Stein. Being the extremely nervous person that I am, I was having a hard time coaxing myself into attending.

However, soon I found myself climbing the steps to the door of Stein's creepy looking laboratory. As I knocked quietly on the door, Blade stood protectively at my side, being the only one with me. Stein had insisted that Blade and I be the only ones to attend the meeting with him, so Kid had said goodbye after school and headed home with Liz and Patty.

Suddenly, we heard a screeching sound inside the laboratory that continually increased in volume until it seemed very close. Blade pulled me away from the doors just as they opened, revealing Stein hurtling towards us on a wheeled desk chair. Just as he crossed over the bump where the doors rested when closed, the chair fell over, dragging Stein to the ground with it.

Stein laid there on the ground and twisted the giant screw in his head and looked up at us, "Ah yes. Blade and Kukuru. Come in, come in."

Stein got up and pulled his chair into the laboratory, Blade and I following in silence. As we entered what appeared to be the main room that held stitched couches and all manner of other stitched furniture, Blade smothered a crooked smile and a small laugh. I looked at him suspiciously, Stein still turning the screw in his head.

Blade leaned his head down and whispered in my ear, "Looks like somebody's got a screw loose."

I rolled my eyes and he snickered softly.

Stein turned and tilted his gaze creepily towards Blade, his glasses catching the light of the luminescent and ominous lights in the room, "I heard that. Maybe you would be happy if I'd dissect you, hm?"

It was a bit weird to see Blade, being as tall as he was, look slightly down at the creepy teacher as he said, "Er, naw. I'm good, actually."

Wow, he was already getting cocky. And it wasn't even a week yet.

Stein just gave Blade a creepy smile and turned to sit on the stitched couch, pushing his wheeled chair into the corner of the room. He motioned for Blade and I to sit down and we obeyed.

Stein stared at us a moment then said, "Nygus has informed me that there is something peculiar about your soul, Kukuru. She said that it was... that Maka described it as… broken. Is this true?"

"I don't know. I apparently don't have soul perception." I answered truthfully. Recently, I had been tested to see if I had soul perception, but apparently not.

"I see. Well, I will confirm Maka's analysis for you. I am looking at your soul right now, and it isn't pretty, I'll give you that." Stein said, destroying all hope I had for having a whole soul.

I remained silent and Blade leaned forwards next to me, "Is there anything at all that can be done for her?"

Stein looked out into the recesses of the laboratory, thinking and turning his screw again, "I'm not sure. Kukuru is a rare case. Oh how I'd give anything to dissect her…"

I pulled in my shoulders close to me self- consciously and shook my head vigorously.

"Damn it…. Isn't there ANYTHING? Even maybe a guess?" Blade asked in frustration.

"For the time being, all I suggest is that she is well cared for," Stein said, straightening up in his chair, "until I can gather more information on the subject, I'm afraid not much can be done."

Blade leaned back against the couch and sighed in frustration. I looked over at him and his brown gaze met my blue one. Worry and frustration currently engulfed his eyes and I guess my eyes were swimming with uncertainty. Out of all the people that could have a broken soul, I, of course, was the one to actually have one.

"Kukuru, I would like you to go to the nurse's office tomorrow during my class and go see Nygus. I want her to record data from you so that I can compare them to data from those who have normal souls." Stein instructed.

I nodded quietly, still very nervous.

"Wait," Blade said, right as we were about to leave, "what about soul resonance? Will Kukuru be able to use hers?"

Stein shook his head doubtfully, "Not while her soul is in three pieces. Well, you probably could try if you wanted to, but I'm positive that it will cause a negative effect on Kukuru's body."

Blade and I breathed a sigh of disappointment. Stein showed us out of the laboratory and Blade and I walked back to Kid's mansion in a depressed silence. We, or should I say I, were already weak enough as it was, being new students at the DWMA, but now we couldn't even use soul resonance, extinguishing our one glimmer of hope for some amount of strength. This was a fairly bad disaster I had gotten myself into.

A couple of weeks have passed since I came to the DWMA. I've has seven check-ups with Nygus, under Doctor Stein's orders. And guess what they've found? Nothing. All they know is that my father broke my soul, but they don't know how to mend it.

Over these long periods of time, I've received five more pain spasms. They keep getting worse and worse and more frequent. The last one I had was a couple of days ago, and I blacked out for THREE WHOLE DAYS. Three freaking days. Blade is really worried, and so is Kid. They're all worried. And me? I'm flat out scared to death.

Aside from all the stuff going on, Kid tried to teach me how to cook, but I failed miserably. I should've expected that I guess. My dad cooked for himself and never let me watch him cook. I guess he thought that if I ever ran away than it would be good because I couldn't make food for myself. In the meantime, I also learned a lot of other things. I've learned how to make a fire, what the requirements are to create a Death Scythe, and I've also learned what basketball is and how to play it. I'm kind of bad at it, but Maka says I'll get better!

Also, I've been having so much fun at the academy! We have been training our physical strength in P.E. now, and I realized I have more strength than I thought I did. Probably thanks to my dad who made me work so hard. Well, at least that's one thank-you he deserves.

Not only did my true abilities come to my attention, but Kid surprised me today with a mission he signed us up for. He said it was just a kishin egg, very easy to kill, and was in an abandoned mining site just north of Las Vegas. I am so nervous, but excited too. Well, more nervous than excited, but still, it's my first ever mission (I don't count when we rescued Blade. I barely did anything!). I'm just glad that Kid will be with me, and Blade, Liz, and Patty of course.

"Alright then, are you all ready?" Stein asked as Kid, Blade, Liz, Patty, and I stood on the steps of the DWMA in the front.

I nodded my head enthusiastically. Blade smiled subtly along with Liz, and Patty beamed happily.

"Kid, may I have a word with you?" Stein asked as Patty and Liz transformed into weapons for the travel, and Blade into his shield which I found out I could strap on my back, and my clothes changed into my fighting garb.

I met eyes with Kid and he nodded at Stein, who walked near the entrance of the DWMA, talking seriously with the reaper. Watching quietly, I noticed Kid's expression growing terribly concerned looking and it seemed for a fraction of a second that the weight of the world was on his shoulders.

As Kid walked back, I raised an eyebrow at him, but he shook his head and muttered, "Beelzebub."

His flying skateboard instantly appeared and he stretched out his hand towards me, just like the very first time I flew with him and smiled.

I warmly accepted and hung onto his shoulders, leaning into his chest. Don't get me wrong, flying with Kid is amazing, but I'm still terribly frightened of falling.

As we took off, Stein's glasses flashed and he watched us until we were out of sight. Pursing my lips, I wondered why he had done so. No matter, I thought. Oh no, what mattered was the here and now. Me, above the ground, flying higher and higher into the sky with all of the people I enjoy. Off to go kill some evil monster, guy…. Thing? I don't know just yet. All I do know is that I was pretty damn nervous.

"How are you doing?" Kid yelled as we passed over the noisy city of Las Vegas.

"Fine," I lied, my thoughts a complete utter mess and my heart pounding, "hey Kid, I've been wondering. What is the kishin egg doing in a place deserted of human souls? I thought kishin's tended to live in cities or towns where people are abundant?"

"Well, this one is lost apparently. And we've got to make sure it doesn't find its way south. I bet you can guess what happens then." Kid answered.

"Las Vegas gets a kishin egg for Christmas. That's not something I'd want in my city either, I see your point." I said a little quickly.

"You sure you're all right?" Kid asked again, this time looking me in the eye.

"Yes." I lied again.

"Liar."

"How do you know, huh?"

"You're close enough to me that I can feel your heart beat. Your heart rate is really high right now. You're nervous aren't you?"

Defeated, I stared off into the distance and mumbled, "Fine then, you caught me. I'm scared. Happy?"

"Kukuru, it won't be as bad as you think. And besides, I'll be there to help you so stop worrying." Kid said, trying to convince me.

"Exactly! You also have me, Blondie, and don't forget it." I heard Blade remind me, his reflection appearing on the shield.

Breathing slowly, I nodded my head, "You're right, you're right. I need to stop overreacting…"

"And if you look over there," Kid took a hand out of his pocket and pointed down to a huge hole in the ground with tents all around it, "that is where we are headed."

"Wow," I said, breathless, "that hole is HUGE!"

"Hole? Another cave thing that's dark and creepy and scary?" Liz moaned.

I heard Patty laughing again and Blade said nothing, but I could guess that he shook his head and rolled his eyes.

As we descended, I got a better look at the tents. There were cobwebs and debris from the mine all over them, spiders abundant. Hopping off the skateboard to get a better look at the hole, I noticed a glowing blue light on one side of the walls of the cavern.

"Hey Kid! Do you think that that could be a human soul down there?" I shouted back at him, without taking my eyes off the light.

I heard Kid's shoes scrunching against the dry desert ground and soon he was at my side looking across the wide span of the hole at the other side where the light was, "Yes, that definitely looks like one."

"Then maybe the kishin egg is here still!" I said.

"Well, come on then!" Kid said, pulling Liz and Patty from his pockets and wielding them.

Deciding I'd better equip Blade, I pulled him off my back and he transformed into his sword form again. As I followed Kid down the side of the hole, I realized that he held Liz and Patty upside down. Not only that, but his pinkie finger was on the trigger, not his index finger.

"Do you always shoot like that?" I asked before thinking.

Kid gave me a sideways glance, "What, you don't like it?"

"No, I was just wondering. Doesn't that make it harder to fire them, though?" I asked curiously, unaware of a moving shadow to my right amongst a small cave in the wall.

"Not really. I've gotten used to it." Kid said, not noticing the movement either.

Suddenly, we heard a loud _scrunch! _on the ground to our right. My head whipped around, but I was a bit too late. The kishin egg shrieked and launched itself towards me, pushing us both over the edge of the stairs and into the deep pit. I was winded but still had Blade clutched in my right hand. About to strike, I wasn't prepared for what happened next. The kishin egg let go of me and flew off. Flew. With wings. Slimy, black, torn bat wings. I finally got a good look at it. The kishin egg was a half black half white imp looking creature with the wings I just described. Except, its face… It looked out of place (ha-ha, rhymes). It was a cat's face with a little golden halo hovering above its head.

Out of nowhere, I suddenly realized I was falling, and falling fast. Butterflies filled my stomach and I was so completely scared that I shrieked. I looked behind me at where I was falling and could see the bottom of the mineshaft coming up fast behind me.

"Kukuru…" Blade said as we plummeted to our doom.

The world seemed numb and cold as I passed within thirty feet of the floor below me. Just as I thought I might die, Kid swooped down under me on Beelzebub and caught me. The force of the impact knocked the skateboard closer to the ground, but not enough to hit the ground. I shivered and breathed a sigh of relief, clutching Kid's suit in my fists and burying my face in his shoulder as we began to ascend towards the top of the pit.

"You all right?" Kid asked, "Your trembling like there's no tomorrow."

"Well for a second there I defiantly thought there was going to be no tomorrow!" I squeaked pitifully.

"Me too." Blade said, letting out a relieved breath of air.

"I owe you again. Thank you." I said to Kid, smiling.

Kid returned my smile and said, "No need to owe me anything. A life is always worth saving."

As I looked up towards the mouth of the pit, Kid let my legs go so I could stand properly on the skateboard.

After a moment, Blade burst out, "How far does this mine go down?"

"Almost a mile. You and Kukuru fell about five thousand feet, and so quickly too." Kid said in a matter-of-factly voice.

Utterly astonished, I gasped, "F-five thousand f-f-feet?"

"Yes, quite a fall," Kid commented and then stayed silent a moment longer before asking, "that kishin. Did you get a good look at it?"

Nodding, I recollected the hideous appearance of the kishin egg and described it for Kid, Liz, and Patty.

"A naughty kitty?" Patty asked giggling.

"Well, at least we'll know what we're looking for. No doubt the kishin egg is on its way to Las Vegas." Kid said, as we ascended out of the pit and the vast desert landscape of Nevada greeted us. We sped forwards on Beelzebub towards the neon lights and never ending noise of Las Vegas.

"Any sign of the kishin egg yet?" Liz asked through Kid's pockets.

"Not yet. I haven't seen it since it attacked Kukuru at the mine shaft." Blade shouted over the wind.

"Wait…. What are those?" I asked, some dark movements on the walls of a casino catching my eye.

"Probably just shadows." Blade replied.

"No… No I don't think so. Look closely." Kid said as his eyes seemed to zero in on the bug-like shadows on the casino.

As we all watched, I felt tension and a sense of foreboding around us all. The shadow suddenly seemed to part itself from the wall of the casino and stretch like goo across an alleyway to the side of the casino.

"Fly closer. See what the heck they are." Blade said.

As Beelzebub lowered, I became nervously aware of a large shadow being cast onto the earth below us.

"K-Kid?" I said, my voice trembling.

"Shhh I know. Stay quiet." Kid whispered, slowly and discreetly pulling Liz and Patty out of his pockets.

We waited with bated breath as we descended lower and lower, the shadow following. Suddenly, an ear-splitting shriek emanated from behind us and Kid spun Beelzebub around and began shooting at the kishin egg we had been looking for. I slung Blade off my shoulder and jumped up towards the kishin egg, jamming the massive spikes of the Blade's shield form into the gut of the kishin egg.

Then, I realized I was falling again, and landed hard on my chest in the alleyway next to the casino wall that was crawling with shadows. Upon closer inspection, I realized that the shadows were in the shape of some weird Trilobite-type creature.

"Kukuru, look over there," Blade said, his reflection nodding towards the rope-like strand of goo between the casino and the building next to it, "what do you think that is?"

"I have no idea." I said honestly, inspecting the green tinted black goop. It was unlike anything I had ever seen before.

Suddenly, I became aware of an innocent bystander on the other side of the line of goo. I waved and shouted, "Hello! You might want to get away from here!"

Then I realized, as she came closer, that she was holding a weapon, a spiked mace to be exact. She had black hair pulled back into a pony tail and her eyes were as red as fire.

"No need. I'm from the DWMA too. I was just passing through here when I noticed you and your friend up there," she nodded towards Kid, "isn't that Lord Death's son?"

"No time! Would you be willing to help us?" I asked.

"Of course!" She replied.

Her black jeans were tight and her white tee-shirt stood out against the dark as she jogged over to where Blade and I awaited. But something totally unexpected just had to happen, didn't it? As the girl ducked under the black goo and began to straighten up, her back brushed against the gooey stuff. Suddenly she shuddered.

"Are you all right?" I asked her, as she randomly drew her weapon.

"I serve the Dark One. All non-kishins must be erased from existence!" She yelled at me.

I barely had time to change Blade into his sword form as the girl lunged at me with her mace partner. As she struck, I blocked with the body of Blade's hooked sword, my hands trembling. Didn't she just say that she was from the DWMA? What the hell just happened?

Looking above me to see if Kid could lend me a hand, I realized that he was still busy with the cat kishin. Fine, I thought, as long as he's close at hand… he told me I'd be fine.

"You WILL serve the Dark One! Obey me, Light Bringer!" the girl shouted at me.

"Fat chance!" I countered weakly, and then performed a powerful (that's surprising) leap into the air, drew Blade up above my head and the hilt came crashing down on the girl's head, knocking her to the ground. However, she instantly recovered and gripped my throat firmly. I pushed off of her chest with my feet and landed a few feet away from her.

"Blade, this is too evenly matched! Doctor Stein said that we probably could pull off a Soul Resonance, but at the cost of my physical well being, right?" I asked as the girl lunged at me again, only to be used as my launching pad as I placed a foot on her head and pushed off from her head and into the air.

"Kukuru, I don't want to risk that!" Blade argued as the girl recovered and jumped up at me, striking my arm and leaving a few good scraps as I shrieked.

"Blade!" I responded, round house kicking the girl square in her jaw.

"… Do you really want to do this Kukuru?" Blade asked me seriously as the girl spun around and used the butt of her mace the ram into my knee. I heard a conspicuous popping noise and knew that I had to try.

"Yes!" I responded quickly.

"I hope this doesn't work." Blade replied, the reflection in the sword shaking his head.

"Let's go…" I began, "Soul Resonance!"

Out of nowhere, Blade's sword form burst into flames and confidence welled up in my heart. A dress of pure fire engulfed my clothes and flaming wings extended out of my back.

A name came into my mind and I shouted, "Phoenix Flight!"

The girl looked at me solemnly, "The Dark One will protect me! I have NO fear!"

She charged at the same time that I charged at her. Unfortunately for her, I struck her perfectly with Blade as the flaming sword he was. As I stood there, back to the injured (I don't know, injured, dead, beaten?) girl, the flames faded and guess what? Bye bye, confidence! My head swooned with pain and I dropped onto the pavement. I looked back at the girl and her weapon, surprised to see two kishin eggs in their places. Hurting all over, I clutched my sides and dropped Blade. I felt Kid's arms keeping me stable and realized that he probably defeated the kishin.

One final surprise awaited me before I blacked out… again. Looking up into the sky, I caught a glimpse of a small girl dressed in a frilly baby pink dress and white witch's hat. She was sitting on broomstick and she looked emotionlessly into my eyes. Something clicked in the back of my mind and I saw a flash of a scene where I was in the woods standing next to a boy. I couldn't see the boy's face but I saw that same little girl, standing there looking frightened, yet also angry and disgusted.

After that, I zonked out.

The world around me was spinning, spinning faster and faster and faster, and I was falling again.

My eyes shot open and I realized with relief that I was in a hospital bed back at the DWMA.

As I looked a little to my left, my eyes met Kid's golden eyes. He smiled down at me and I smiled back. Then I noticed that Blade, Liz, Patty, Maka, Soul, Blackstar, Tsubaki, Crona, and Ragnarok were all gathered around my bed, watching me.

"See? I knew she'd be fine! You're fine, right Kukuru?" Blackstar boomed, pushing his way to my right.

Smiling weakly, I said, "Wha- uh ya Blackstar! I'm just fine! Hehe…!"

"Good then! See, I make everything better! HAHAHA!" Blackstar then began laughing like a maniac again.

"It's a relief you're ok! Kid told us what happened, with the student from the academy and the kishin egg." Maka said.

Suddenly, everything came back to me, "Oh ya… that was so strange. Have any of you seen that before? She looked perfectly fine before, but once she came close, she was all 'I serve the Dark One' and stuff."

"Hmm…" Blade mumbled.

"They could've just been kishin eggs from the very beginning you know." Soul said in a matter-of-factly voice.

"Possibly." Liz agreed.

"I don't know. She seemed so kind…" My voice trailed off.

"What were their names?" Blade asked suddenly.

"I believe the meister was Kora Kleary and her weapon was Sukai Deppuskii," Tsubaki informed us, "at least, that's what I _think _Stein said their names were…"

Then one more question came to my mind, "Kid? Did you happen to see that witch that was flying near us towards the time where I blacked out?"

"Ah yes. I felt her presence. She wasn't using soul protect. That's why she was able to fly on her broomstick." Kid said looking towards the ceiling in thought.

"What was a witch doing there?" Ragnarok asked.

"No idea. She just vanished after Kukuru passed out." Liz replied.

"And what about those weird shadows? What were those?" Blade asked Kid.

"That is another mystery we have yet to unravel, I'm afraid." Kid replied.

The room went silent after that, but to relieve the tension, I said gratefully, "Thank you all for coming to visit me! You didn't have to, but thanks."

Of course, that started a lot of light hearted chit chat, but the gloom and foreboding of the mention of the unsolved mysteries of the witch, the shadows, and the girls Kora and Sukai still haunted the conversation.

Little did I know what kind of deranged mess I was getting myself into.


	5. The Lost and Shared Memories of My Soul

Chapter Four

The Lost and Shared Memories of My Soul

Recovering from that soul resonance that I performed with Blade hasn't been easy. I visited Doctor Stein the day I had woken up from my coma induced by that soul resonance. Apparently, another rip in my soul is forming, and I've been spending more time in the school infirmary than I do at the manor.

As October progresses, I've noticed a startlingly large increase in the frequency and magnitude of the pain waves caused by my torn soul. They've been getting so horribly unbearable that I've been passing out for days, one time for a week. I'm becoming very fearful recently, my hands shaking whenever I feel the first dull wave of pain signaling the arrival of a fresh pain attack. Kid has been trying to help me whenever he can, sitting by my bedside while I'm in my unconscious state after an attack and twice he's held me when I've been in the middle of one.

Blade also shows up every once and a while, each time the concern on his face increasing in intensity. Kid told me Blade barely sleeps at night whenever I spend the night at the DWMA's hospital. He sits on his windowsill staring up at the academy, probably worrying himself sick.

Aside from the problems with my soul, the time I spend at the infirmary has given me lots of free time to think. In a way, it is nice, almost liberating, to be able to sit in a hospital bed all day thinking. I've been thinking about what I saw happen to those girls from the academy. Thinking back to the incident, I realized that before the miester touched whatever the hell that black goo was, she seemed fine. What if the goop was some form of kishin? That could pose a bit of a threat. Whatever it was was capable of traveling through walls, barely even perceptible. Not only that, but it could take on a solid form, and pretty quickly too, if I recall correctly. I talked to Kid about my theory, and I also told Stein. They both said it was possible, but it would need more looking into.

Another thing that has been troubling me is the appearance of the mysterious witch. She hadn't done anything at all except observe, and that made me nervous. If she was watching us, maybe she was able to tell that my soul was in pieces by the way I was fighting and what happened after the soul resonance. Maybe she was after one of us that were there that night. What if she was responsible for the corruption of the two academy girls?

The last thing that had all of us searching for an answer was why the black dog-like kishin egg that had taken Blade stayed alive after Kid shot it so many times and I stabbed it through the chest. Usually kishins will dematerialize after acquiring injuries like that but it still managed to cling to being alive for a short while after. The other miesters and weapons have also been having similar experiences with kishin eggs that they fought. Lord Death is becoming increasingly worried, though sometimes it's hard to tell given his light, happy nature.

One thing I'm glad about is my dad was arrested this morning. Once the court finds him guilty, which they obviously will, I won't have to worry about him hurting anyone, especially me.

Anyways, today is one of the days where I've just woken up from being unconscious, Kid and Blade sitting beside my bed.

"How long was I out this time?" I asked as I sat up slowly and Blade handed me a cup of water.

"About five days." Kid answered as I took a sip of water.

Nygus suddenly entered the room and saw me awake, "Ah, I see you've woken up. Won't be needing this anymore then..."

Nygus came over to the bed and gently removed the IV from my arm that had been giving me nutrients for the past five days.

"Any luck on finding out how to repair her soul?" Kid asked, looking up at Nygus.

At that moment, Stein entered the room, "I'm afraid not. I've tried several theories while she was asleep, but her soul is still broken."

I lowered my gaze to my cup of water and sighed.

Blade leaned over in his chair, his head in his hands. I knew he was trying not to cry.

Kid looked grim (small joke there) as he heard the news from Stein and shook his head.

"For now, all we can do is let Kukuru rest. She'll need her strength to go about and do stuff." Stein said, somewhat ominously.

Kid looked at him suspiciously but got up and with a final glance at me, walked out the door. Blade got up and reached out and held my hand and squeezed it gently. I tried to smile reassuringly at him, and he smiled slightly back and then let go of my hand and left. Nygus nodded in my direction and followed suit. Stein soon left too and I was alone again. Alone with my thoughts.

Drinking the rest of my water, I realized I was sleepy even though I'd been unconscious for five days, so I set my cup on the bedside table, pulled the covers of the bed over my shoulder and fell asleep.

Some time later, I opened my eyes. It was dark in the hospital room; probably nighttime, I thought. I was just going to close my eyes again when I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. My eyes bolted open again and I scoured the room from the safe covers of the infirmary bed. I saw shadows moving on the walls and I began to quiver with fear. They looked somewhat like Trilobites.

My skin crawled as I watched them part from the wall and stretch across the infirmary like the ones I saw stretch between the alleyways in Vegas. I shrieked and I heard loud and fast footsteps coming from the hallway. Suddenly, Stein burst through the doors. He was going to run straight into the gooey stuff but I screamed, "No! Don't touch them!"

Stein stopped abruptly, inches from the nearest... thing, "Why?"

"Those are the things Kid, Blade, Liz, Patty and I saw at Las Vegas! Where all that weird stuff happened!" I said nervously.

"Yes I remember you telling me. But, why mustn't I touch them?" Stein asked inquisitively, taking something from his lab coat pocket.

"I... I'm not entirely sure, but I think that's what caused that miester and her weapon to turn on us." I tried to explain.

Stein nodded thoughtfully, "It could well be."

He moved his hand with whatever he had grabbed out of his pocket towards the nearest creature and poked it with the item. As the thing in Stein's hand began to squirm in his hands, I realized it was an animal; a mouse.

"I think you're right Kukuru." Stein said before the mouse bit his finger, "Ouch!"

Stein dropped the mouse in a container close by and then looked back at me, "It's not safe in here. C'mon. You need to get out of here so I can get this room quarantined."

I nodded and slipped out of the bed cautiously. It was then that I saw something black move across one of the windows for a split second. I blinked. Must've been a trick of the light, I thought.

Carefully moving through the maze of blackish green creatures, I took note of their appearances. Even with the low light, I realized they sort of looked like really long centipedes smothered with the gross gooey stuff.

As I reached Stein's side, his glasses flashed and he started turning his screw, "Hmm. It appears these things are all kishin eggs capable of sending Soul Snares into the souls of others like Medusa did with Crona."

Looking back at the kishin egg infested room, I remembered what Kid had told me about Crona and his evil witch mother, Medusa. Medusa had used a black snake thing that wrapped itself around Crona's soul, causing Crona to bend to his mother's will. So that must've happened to the other DWMA students only these new kishin eggs are transferring them to people.

"I'll inform Lord Death and tell him to send Kid to come and help you back to his mansion. You warn your friends not to use weapons such as swords, scythes, or anything that will make physical contact with these things. Use long ranged weapons." Stein said as he turned and started walking down the hallway.

I nodded and waited for Stein and Kid to return, all the while studying the dripping kishin eggs on the walls; from a distance of course. One mystery solved, but there was a myriad of others to be figured out. What did that witch have to do with all this? When and where did these kishin eggs start springing up? How come kishin eggs around Death City seemed to be becoming stronger?

Trying to piece the information together in my mind, I came up with some ideas, some totally wild and others relatively plausible. What if the witch was creating and controlling the kishin eggs and somehow was leaking madness into the city while doing so? What if the witch wasn't the source of the new kishin breed but was under their influence, the combined strength of the witches presence and the eggs stirring up madness waves?

"Kukuru?" Kid said softly and he gently shook my shoulder.

I nearly jumped ten feet, "Gah! Don't sneak up on me like that!"

Kid smiled a little then looked into the infirmary and back at me, "I'm glad you got out of there ok."

"Me too. I don't want to go all kishin egg on anyone." I replied letting out a sigh of relief.

"Well, let's get back to the mansion. It's two in the morning and I want a symmetrical eight hours of sleep." Kid replied as he started walking down the hall.

I rolled my eyes as I sped walk to catch up with him. I thought about pointing out that the stripes on his hair were asymmetrical, but thought better of it when I remembered when I did that once before. Kid went a little crazy, as in he fell to the floor and was hitting it with his fist and rattling on about not being symmetrical and that he was damned to hell for it. It took Liz a couple of minutes to calm him down. I definitely didn't want to deal with that at the moment.

I just wanted to settle somewhere safe.

The next day at the academy, Doctor Stein seemed like he was trying to approach Kid and I, but whenever he got the chance he'd just stare at us, as if deciding whether or not to tell us something. Just when we thought he'd given up on trying to talk to us and we had about ten minutes till school was out for the day, Stein appeared in the library and walked towards us.

"Hello Kid, Kukuru," Stein said, addressing us both, Liz watching closely nearby while Patty was reading a fantasy book, "Lord Death ordered me to, erm, recruit you two as test subjects for a little, ah, experiment."

I shivered a little at the word "experiment".

"What kind of experiment?" Kid asked protectively.

"One that he thinks you'll both benefit from," Stein replied, then, fast as lightning, he moved behind us and put a hand on our shoulders farthest from where he was standing in between us, "I'll explain on the way back to my laboratory."

"What about us?" Liz piped up as she stood and gestured to herself and Patty.

"You two should stay here." Stein said simply as he ushered Kid and I forward.

I looked back at Liz and saw that her expression screamed agitated. Thinking deeply, I wondered if it was because of Stein performing an experiment on her miester or that I was going with Kid and not her.

Blade suddenly came into view and we locked gazes. He seemed a little worried but I nodded slightly at him to tell him it was ok. At least, I hope it'll be ok.

Blade nodded back and walked over to Liz and Patty, talking with them both. However, we soon turned the corner and I lost sight of my weapon.

"I'll ask again; what type of experiment is this?" Kid asked Stein again.

We were approaching the door to Stein's laboratory, the building looking very oddly out of place with all the crazy stitches and stuff.

"Well, you both know what soul resonance is," Stein began as he pulled out a set of keys and unlocked the door with one, "and of course you know it is used to make your attacks stronger."

Kid and I both nodded and we followed Stein into the depths of his laboratory.

"I have a theory that soul resonance can also be used to access each other's memories, maybe even memories people have forgotten," Stein explained as he lead us into a room filled with white candles that were all lit, "and as soon as Lord Death got word of it, he strongly suggested that the two of you be my first human test subjects."

Kid and I exchanged glances. Why would Lord Death want that all of a sudden? And how would the experiment turn out? Could it really be possible to share memories with soul resonance? Even if the two aren't miester and weapon?

"However, there is one thing I am extremely concerned about that may inflict severe damage on both of you," Stein said, creasing his eyebrows as I gulped, "Kukuru's soul isn't stable at the moment. It could collapse if we attempt this and she would die and her soul would die with her. And not only that, but the rebound could inflict severe damage on Kid's soul and his might shatter as well."

"Then why are you even thinking of going through with this? You could firstly lose this lovely girl who still has a future ahead of her to live but you could also lose me, the next ruling Grim Reaper!" Kid said in a raised voice, clearly frustrated and concerned.

My skin was crawling and I shivered with fear, but looked up and blushed a little when Kid described me as "lovely". I wondered why I did and just shook my head and went back to the conversation at hand.

"Listen Kid, Kukuru; do you think Lord Death would ask me to have you two perform something this dangerous if he knew you'd both die?" Stein said, but despite his valid point, I still sensed some uncertainty in his tone of voice.

Kid sighed and furrowed his eyebrows, thinking.

Even though I was terrified to even think about what would happen if this failed, I felt something inside me telling me to do this. After a few seconds I felt compelled to agree to Stein's experiment.

I breathed out nervously, "I want to try."

Kid looked up at me with an expression that asked, "Are you sure?"

I nodded back to him and he looked up at Stein, "Ok Stein. We'll risk it."

Stein nodded at us both, "You're very brave; both of you."

Smiling a little, I felt somewhat braver.

"Now, the two of you must kneel and face each other." Stein said.

Kid and I obeyed.

Suddenly, a question entered my mind, "What if our souls aren't compatible?"

Stein frowned, "Then nothing will happen."

Ok, I thought, better than my soul and body dying.

"Next, put your heads together." Stein instructed.

Slowly, Kid and I touched the top of our foreheads together.

"Now look into the other's eyes and think of how you perform soul resonance with your weapon partners and attempt doing that with each other." Stein said simply.

Staring into Kid's golden eyes, I imagined our souls touching, furrowing my eyebrows in concentration.

"It's working..." I heard Stein whisper, then he said a little louder, "close your eyes now."

I closed my eyes and was surrounded by a void of darkness. Still trying to resonate my soul with Kid's, I started to see colors on the edges of the blackness. The colors started to slowly take over the darkness and soon there was color all around. I suddenly felt in my soul that mine and Kid's soul were in resonance.

It was a strange, different kind of resonance, like a type of mind resonance. I felt myself move from my own body and start walking through the colors. There were flat, rectangular surfaces that looked like televisions everywhere, each displaying different places, people and situations. At first, I didn't notice anything strange about the things being played on the screens, when suddenly I glimpsed a TV that made me want to cry out of sadness. I ran quickly to the right television and watched my mom and my dad holding hands with a small child, all three silhouetted against the sunset. The little child was me. Without noticing, tears streamed down my cheeks and I had to get away from that memory. I ran the opposite direction as fast as my feet could carry me.

Out of the blue, I heard someone yell, "Kukuru!"

I turned and saw another TV screen, this one displaying the day my dad forced my mom to leave. I stood, frozen with terror as I watched my dad pick up a huge butcher's knife and then grab little me around the waist and holding the knife to my throat, my mother's face contorted with fear.

"Get out or she dies!" My father yelled, his cold blue eyes relentless and his black hair enhancing the sinister look on his face.

"Kukuru! No! My baby!" My mother yelled, her tan skin and blonde hair quivering. Her soft blue eyes filled with tears.

"I said get out!" My dad snarled as he made a small cut on my collarbone and little me screamed.

"Mommy! Don't go mommy!" Little Kukuru shrieked as her eyes streamed with tears.

"I have to go sweetie..." My mom said brokenheartedly, "I love you, little darling."

With that, my mom turned, opened the door and left. Forever.

"No!" I screamed and I ran yet again as far away from that screen as I could. I couldn't stand it all.

Collapsing on the ground, I burst into tears and moaned in agony. I pulled my knees up under my chin and hugged them close. I felt so alone. Desolate. Destroyed.

Suddenly, I felt someone touch my shoulder gently. I looked up and saw Kid standing above me. I don't think I was ever more glad to see him other than the first time I met him. He sat down next to me and put an around me. I let go of my knees and turned and hugged him and cried. He hugged me back and we just stayed like that for a while.

After I finished crying, I let go of him and sat down across from him. He wiped the tears from my face.

"You ok?" He asked.

"Ya, I-I just saw some n-not to p-pleasant memories is all..." I stuttered quietly.

Kid nodded at me and then stood up and offered me a hand. I reached up and took it and he helped me to my feet.

"So, should we head back to Stein?" I asked.

Kid shook his head, "There's something I think you need to see..."

I looked at him inquisitively but he just turned and started walking through the TV's and colors. I followed him curiously, wondering what he wanted to show me.

"Here we are," he said a little later as he gestured to a very small screen, "watch this memory."

Taking a seat in front of the screen, I watched as a small, pale, black haired, golden eyed child appeared on the screen. I smiled as I recognized Kid.

"Hey! Hurry up! I see another one!" Little Kid shouted as his gaze fell upon a small blue butterfly that had landed on a bush.

"Ok ok, sorry."

That voice. My voice.

Suddenly, little ME appeared out of some bushes carrying a butterfly net.

My jaw dropped as I watched Little Kid and Little Me attempt to catch the butterfly together.

"Kid, did you see this?" I asked him, still shocked.

"Yup. I think this is what my father wanted us to find," Kid replied, "but keep watching. It gets better."

I watched the screen as a few other moments with Kid and I in it appeared. One time we went to the beach. Another we were walking through the halls of the DWMA, our future school. Another we were drawing pictures. Yet another we were running from an angry hive of bees. And one more where we were lying on a hill looking up at the starry night sky. I guessed we were about fourish-fiveish at the time.

Then the last memory appeared on the screen. Kid and I were in the forest again, searching for butterflies like before, when we spotted a little girl in a white dress in the distance. Thinking she was lost, we ran over to her. That was when my mind totally imploded.

The girl we found was that witch I saw in the alleyway in Vegas.

"Holy shit!" I exclaimed.

"Keep watching." Kid said.

"Who are you?" Little Me said.

The witch looked at Little Me and Little Kid angrily, but with a strange fear in her eyes as well.

"Mird Bird Mird Bird Mird..." the witch chanted quietly.

Both Little Me and Little Kid suddenly looked as if we had no idea where we were or what we were doing there.

The witch grinned and then said innocently, "Excuse me? I said are you two friends?"

Little Me and Little Kid looked startled by the question and they looked at each other then back at the witch, "No. I don't know him," was Little Me's reply.

"I don't know her either..." Little Kid replied.

Suddenly everything came rushing back to me. I had been Kid's friend since I was three until that witch came along and erased out memories of each other. But why would she do that?

On the screen, Little Kid and Little Me walked off in opposite directions and the witch summoned the same broomstick she had been riding when I saw her in Las Vegas and she flew off into the daytime sky. Then the screen went back to the first time Kid and I were chasing butterflies.

I stood up and turned to Kid, a huge smile on my face.

He nodded at me and suddenly we were back in the candle filled room in Stein's laboratory.

I grinned at him and said, "Oh God I missed you!"

He smiled too, "Me too."

We stood up and hugged warmly, not as the newly found friends we had been, but long time buddies. Even though it had been a long time since we'd last done all that stuff together, all the feelings we had had for each other from that time resurfaced after we had watched the memory. It felt like those two years were fresh in my mind.

Stein looked delighted but also a little confused, "It worked! And you're not dead!"

Kid and I both smiled and we let go of each other.

"Nope!" I replied.

"Thank God." Kid added.

"So, I've got to know; what happened?" Stein asked.

After giving four, seven, a lot of full accounts of what happened while in our resonated state, Stein started doing more research on Mind Resonation.

When Lord Death heard the news he was quite happy and told me that he had thought I looked familiar but couldn't figure out why and that's why he asked Stein to use us as test subjects.

If anything, I feel like this experience has not only brought Kid and I closer, but I feel strangely more confident in myself than before.

More good news; Stein did an examination on my soul after the Mind Resonation with Kid and told me that the fourth crack that had been forming in my soul was repaired. He didn't know how or why and neither did I, but I was so glad about that. The repaired crack meant there was hope yet that my broken soul could be mended.

I felt great, having the memories of my childhood friendship with Kid again was fantastic and the new discovery that was sparking people's interest was awesome.

However, there is one bit of bad news. I overheard Stein talking to Miss Marie and it seems he's feeling more madness waves than usual. He says he feels like it's increasing with every day and every hour. I'm worried. What did that mean? Were there more of those kishin eggs than we thought there were, or is it something else that we don't know about yet?

We may have a little more pieces of the puzzle put together, but we still don't have the big picture just yet.


	6. Life City?

**Chapter Five:**

**LIFE CITY?**

Author's Note: Well this is my first time adding one of these… Sorry if this chapter seems a little rushed or out of rhythm. I just wanted to update ASAP for all those following this story. Enjoy!

Somewhere very near our beloved Death City, a black haired, pale skinned girl with orange eyes cackled evilly. She walked down the grand black and white checkered steps of Noose Palace, smiling menacingly at the servants she passed.

"Good morning, miss." One girl said, bowing her head obediently as she walked past the Mistress.

"Good mornin', mam." A young boy greeted quietly, bowing his head solemnly.

"Next time, LOUDER." The Mistress shouted.

The boy paled but nodded and hurried away.

The Mistress grinned at his fear, revealing her sharp teeth.

"M-m-morning m-miss…." A small blonde haired child stammered as she lowered her head.

The Mistress stopped smiling immediately and halted her descent of the steps.

"Did you just stammer? Did you just _stammer_ when speaking to _me_?" The Mistress said calmly with a slight bit of coldness in her voice.

The girl shuffled her feet but stayed silent, not looking the Mistress in the eyes, feeling terrified for her soul, her blonde curls visibly trembling as was her black maid's dress and white apron.

"Look at me when I speak to you!" The Mistress hollered, grabbing the girls face roughly and staring down into the girl's brown eyes.

"I'm s-sorry mam!" The girl stammered again. She was dead for sure.

"What is your name?" The Mistress asked, slightly less angry sounding.

"Rachel, mam. Rachel Kaisaow." Rachel replied, trying to control her fast breathing.

The Mistress let go of her face, "Well, Rachel, let me teach you a lesson in grammar."

Rachel's eyes reflected panic as the Mistress went and sat on the sleek black railing of the staircase.

"You see, Rachel, you shouldn't rush your sentences…" The Mistress pressed a black button cleverly camouflaged in the railing, "You shouldn't use in-complete sentences…" She pressed another button and a lever popped out of the railing, "And you should never, ever, EVER stammer when speaking to your Mistress."

Rachel shrieked as the Mistress pulled the lever and the stairs of the staircase flattened out into a slide and a large, gaping hole of blackness that stank of human flesh and blood opened at the bottom. Rachel, unable to grab hold of anything, sobbed miserably as she was flung into the blackness of the hole.

The Mistress eagerly slid down the railing and stood next to the hole, her tattered white dress slowing her slightly. She reached the end of the rail and swung to the side, landing next to the deep, black hole and began listening intently. Suddenly she heard the sound she loved the most; the breaking of bones, the splattering of blood, and the last shriek of pain from the dying little servant girl.

I sat bolt upright in my bed at Gallows Manor. I was shaking uncontrollably and I gripped the bed sheets tightly in my hands. Looking around at my surroundings frantically, I realized I was in my room, not the strange Noose Palace from my nightmare. I tossed the maroon sheets from off my body and sat up, hugging my knees.

"What a horrible nightmare…" I muttered. It was the strangest nightmare I'd ever had. The palace reminded of somewhere I'd been before. The Mistress had looked so familiar, but I was sure I'd never encountered a girl like that in my life. I probably would've remembered someone as cruel and vicious as her. It had all been so strange and yet so familiar.

I put my legs over the side of the bed and stood up on the luscious white carpet, legs feeling a bit wobbly and my head pounding. Luckily, my chest wasn't hurting. Yet.

I dressed myself quickly and pulled open the black and gray door of my room that lead to a sort of melancholy gray hallway filled with symmetrical paintings. Walking groggily down the hall to the dining room, I bumped into Blade.

"Hi Blade," I said, yawning, "how was your sleep?"

We continued walking down the hall as Blade answered, "Not very good. I kept having the same nightmare over and over."

Hmm... I thought.

"What about?" I asked as we kept walked into the dining room.

Blade replied simply, "An assassin."

I smiled, "It wasn't about Black*Star was it?"

Blade grinned, "No, but any dream including him being the perfect assassin would definitely be considered a nightmare. From me at least."

I laughed and sat at the table next to Blade. In the background I could hear Patty singing very loudly at Liz to get her to wake up.

Blade's grin faded a little, "It was about some spiky and white haired person with caramel eyes. He was like a ghost…. A ruthless one. Not very pleasant to talk about."

Realizing he didn't want to say anything more I nodded and stayed silent for a little while until Blade randomly asked, "What about you?"

"Um, well, I had a bit of a disturbing nightmare as well…" I was about to go on when Liz and Patty charged into the room.

"HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII EVERYBODY!" Patty shouted happily, her rosy cheeks rosier than usual.

Liz looked a little put off about something and we realized what it was when she told us, "Patty found our coffee storage….. and sugar, and cream."

Blade and I exchanged a glance and burst out laughing.

Patty looked confused for a fraction of a second then burst out laughing this crazed, insane sounding laugh that reminded me of my nightmare. I shuddered.

"Liz, I told you not to hide the coffee in the laundry room anymore," A voice called from the kitchen, "she found that place months ago the last time we hid the coffee there!"

"I thought she'd forget!" Liz replied as she sat down next to the giggling Patty who was now playing with her spoon like it was an airplane.

Kid walked into the room carrying breakfast and some plates, "Well obviously she hasn't."

Kid set breakfast on the table and sat across from me, looking deeply troubled by something as the rest of us helped ourselves to a delicious looking omelet.

"Hey Kid, do you mind if I cook tonight?" Blade asked. I was wondering when he'd want to start cooking.

"Erm, sure if you're any good at it." Kid teased half-heartedly as he snapped out of his trance and took a slice of omelet.

"Trust me, he's really good." I said, taking a bite of food.

"Well, I'm not _that_ good…" Blade said modestly (what? Blade, stop being so polite.).

I gave him a look. This really was not at all how Blade was. He was gonna have to revert to his old self or I was going to freak out.

"Yes you are," I replied and then turned to Kid, "His cooking saved an entire restraunt. Ever heard of the Shooting Star?"

"I think so…" Liz replied, "Kid, didn't we go there once? For Patty's birthday or something?"

"Yes, yes I remember that." Kid confirmed.

"Well, it used to be a heaping wreck until Blade starting cooking there. It's now one of the most well-known restraunts in Life City." I said.

"Death City…" Blade corrected.

"Oh… right… Death City… Why did I say Life City…?" I mumbled to myself.

After that it was sort of silent, with the exception of Patty rambling on endlessly about unicorns and how they were destined to save the universe. I couldn't figure out why I had said Life City. It's Death City, I thought. Get it right…

"Kukuru? You left your homework upstairs last night. Just so you know where it is." Blade replied, finishing his meal.

"Oh right. I'll be back." I said, excusing myself from the table and started walking back down the gray hallway towards the stairs.

Pondering my dream as I went, I felt a nagging sensation in the back of my mind, like I knew something important but couldn't quite grasp it. It was very frustrating, and I was just about to start ascending the black and white spiral staircase when I had a déjà vu. I looked at the staircase carefully. Each step was either black or white. One step was black, the next white, then the next stair would be black again, the matching white metal railing gripped loosely with my right hand. I realized suddenly that it reminded me of the checkered staircase in my nightmare. Feeling a little more apprehensive, I climbed the stairs quickly and retrieved my papers.

I hopped down the stairs two at a time and shivered as I set a my foot on the floor at the end of the staircase. Suddenly, I heard the faint scream of a little girl. My blood ran cold as I dashed back into the dining room. No, no, no. Just a dream. I'm hallucinating is all….

"Kukuru are you alright?" Kid asked, concerned.

I jumped as I realized he was standing right in front of me, looking me in the eyes.

"I… I don't know…. I had this nightmare and…" I shivered.

Kid got that deeply concerned look on his face again, "I see… Well, we should probably start heading to the academy now…"

"Yeah… let's do that then…" I said quietly, passing Kid and waiting by the door with Blade, Liz and Patty.

"You okay Kukuru? You look sort of pale…" Liz asked.

"I'll be fine…" I replied as Kid walked over to the door and opened it for all of us.

As we walked, I felt myself lingering on the dream and the look on the little girl's face when she realized she was destined to die.

At the DWMA, everyone seemed a little off. Some of them were distant and muttering strange words. Others would gaze at each other with horror or pain or anger in their eyes. There were so many fights breaking out.

But worst of all was Stein. He was acting crazy and more insane than usual. All the students were worried and we eventually called in Miss Marie to calm him down.

During our free study towards the end of the school day, Soul, Maka, Black*Star, Tsubaki, Kid, Liz, Patty, Crona, Ragnarok, Blade and I all met up in the library to talk.

"Something is definitely going on here. I can feel an intense wave of madness slowly increasing." Soul said seriously, looking suspiciously around the room.

"You don't think it's those Trilobite kishins, do you?" Tsubaki asked.

"No. Even with a huge hoard of them, there is no way they could produce this much madness." Kid answered.

"What about the witch?" I asked.

"I don't think one witch could do all this." Maka pointed out.

I furrowed my eyebrows and closed my eyes, rubbing my eyelids with my hands. My head was hurting so much with the effort of trying to remember where I'd seen the Mistress before. It was bugging me to no end and I just could not place her face (really? More rhymes?).

I decided I needed some cold water in my face to perk myself up, "I'll be back."

"Are you okay Kukuru? You're not having another pain attack are you?" Maka asked, concerned.

"No, I'm just a little dizzy is all." I replied as I stood up.

As I walked away from the group, I heaved out a sigh. I wonder if any of the teachers know anything? Maybe I should ask Nygus before we leave school today.

I walked into the girl's bathroom and turned the silver knob of the faucet and cold water poured out. I cupped my hands and gathered some water in them and splashed it in my face. I turned the water off and gripped the sides of the cream counter the recently cleaned sink rested on. I looked up in the mirror.

As I did so, I was rendered breathless and a pang of terror hit my heart. I suddenly reached up and undid my bun and allowed my blonde hair to flow over my shoulders and down my back. I nearly shrieked.

Why?

Because I realized now who the Mistress looked like. She looked like ME.

Suddenly, everything started shaking like crazy I lost my grip on the sink and fell backwards onto the ground of the bathroom. I heard shrieks and screams from the hallways as students scrambled around to find a place to duck under. I opened the tan cabinets under the silver sink to reveal cleaning supplies and unwrapped toilet paper. I shoved them out of the cabinet and squeezed into the musty, dark space under the sink. I shut the doors tightly and listened to the rumbling of the ground and the scuffling of students running about the school and the shrieks and shouts of teachers and kids alike.

A short while later, the tremendous shaking halted abruptly. I stayed in my little cabinet until I was sure the shaking stopped.

I slowly opened the cabinet doors. The earthquake had been so powerful it had broken large chunks out of the ceiling which had crashed into the tiled floor of the bathroom. Some of the sleek black stalls had been wrecked; doors off their hinges, toilets crushed and spewing water out of them and walls collapsing. I cautiously stepped out of my cabinet into the rubble of the bathroom and proceeded to the door. As I opened it, I saw tons of people crowding around the windows to my left. I crossed the dark wood flooring and spotted my group, some faces pale and nervous looking, others staring in disbelief, and still others who angrily glared out the windows.

Blade walked over to me, "Kukuru… You might want to see this…"

I hesitantly walked towards the nearest window, unsure of what I was about to see.

As I stared out into the distance, I spotted something that made me freeze in horror and panic.

Out in the distance, I saw a duplicate of Death City, expect slightly different. Suddenly, fireworks shot into the sky and formed letters. The letters read, "Hello, Death City! Meet your insane neighbors of Life City!"

The cackling laughter of the Mistress rang in my ears, the sickening crack of the little girls bones echoing in my mind.

"Lord Death!" I yelled as we Maka, Soul, Black*Star, Tsubaki, Liz, Patty, Kid, Crona, Ragnarok, Blade and I burst into the Death room.

Lord Death turned from his mirror, cartoony features creased with concerned, "Yes, I am fully aware of this so called Life City."

"But how on Earth did it get here? It wasn't here just this morning!" Blade asked.

"I'm not sure…" Death replied worriedly.

Just then, Stein joined our merry little party as we discussed what to do.

"Yes, very mysterious. It seems as though the madness waves we have been feeling for quite a while have been coming from Life City all along. The large amount of madness explains why the kishin eggs have been so much more powerful recently." Stein explained.

"What are we going to so though?" Tsubaki asked.

"I'll go and assassinate them all and we won't have to worry about a damn thing because I am THE GREATEST ASSISSIN IN THE WORLD! BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Black*Star started laughing crazily.

Lord Death looked scornfully at Black*Star and Reaper Chopped the idiot.

Spirit, a Death Scythe of Lord Death's, appeared in the room as well, "It doesn't have to be a bad place necessarily. Maybe they're just plagued with kishins or kishin eggs."

"Maybe, but I doubt it. We should send some meisters and their weapons out as scouts and have them report back. We'll send Sid with you in case you need help." Stein replied.

"Soul and I will go!" Maka volunteered.

"Okay. Take the rest of your resonance team with you. With the huge magnitude of that madness wave, it couldn't hurt to be cautious." Stein flashed his glasses at Black*Star when he said "cautious".

Feeling a little left out, I glanced at Kid. He was part of Maka's resonance team, and I wasn't, which meant I had to wait here while they risked their lives out there in this so-called Life City. I shuddered when I thought about what could happen if they ran into the Mistress…

Kid, catching my glance, walked over to where I was and rested a hand on my shoulder, "Don't worry. We'll be back soon. Don't forget I'm a Grim Reaper."

"I know…" I huffed slightly. In truth, I was actually a little relieved I wasn't going to investigate. I was really nervous about what lay in the streets of that city and what might happen to me if I went there.

Kid smiled at me and began walking off with Liz, Patty, Maka, Soul, Black*Star, and Tsubaki. I followed behind with Blade and exited the Death Room. Just as Kid was about to turn a corner, he waved at him and I waved back, forcing a smile on my face. God, what a mess…

"He'll be fine," Blade said, which made me jump, "You seem to keep forgetting he's a Grim Reaper, Cookie."

"Don't call me that!" I said, glaring at him.

He cracked a smile.

This was the Blade _I_ knew.

Rolling my eyes, I walked over to a window and looked at duplicate of Death City which looked like a great, towering, terrifying beast leering at us from its perch. Blade stood next to me, gazing at it with an unreadable expression on his face.

"That nightmare I had…" He began hesitantly, "I saw… a reverse Gallows Manor and DWMA, or as they were called in my nightmare, Noose Palace and LMWU."

"LMWU?" I looked at Blade, wondering if he had an answer.

"Life Meister Weapon University." Blade clarified.

"Ah… I had a dream about Noose Palace but not LMWU. You don't think this Life City could possibly have gotten into our minds while we slept?" I asked.

Blade sighed, "Dunno. We don't even know what it's like in there."

"Ya…" I sighed.

We sat there in silence, waiting for the resonance team to report back to Stein and Lord Death.

A while later, Blade and I were sitting on the steps outside the DWMA when suddenly Maka ran up the steps wielding Soul as a black and red scythe, panting hard. Black*Star jumped from the nearest rooftop, black vine tattoos on his face and wielding Tsubaki as a black sword. Kid sped toward us on Beelzebub, shooting at something behind him. Kid soon stopped firing and landed, Beelzebub disappearing.

Blade and I stood up, alarmed.

"What's going o-"Blade began.

"No time! C'mon!" Maka replied, out of breath but still making a mad dash for the front doors of the DWMA.

Wasting no time, I spun around and ran straight for the doors. I was the last one to reach the doors, so I turned to close them quickly when I spotted a black haired girl with orange eyes and wearing a white, tattered dress…

I stared, frozen in horror as she smiled maliciously at me, her sharp teeth showing. I noticed that her face looked gaunt and paler than it had in the dream. I also noticed she was wearing black lipstick and heavy mascara.

"Hello, Kukuru," She yelled, "Oooo it's so strange to use my own name for someone else!"

"Kukuru!" Kid said to me, grabbing hold of my upper arm and pulling me into the DWMA.

Maka ran to the doors and shut them.

"That… s-she is… Oh my God!" I managed.

"Yes, we know. She's you, only not you. There's more but we have to get back to the Death Room first." Kid replied, letting go of my arm and turning to run again.

I followed, running as fast as my legs could carry me. As we approached the doors to the Death Room, Kid ran up ahead and pushed the doors open.

"Stein! Lord Death!" Maka shouted as she sprinted into the room.

We all stopped running as we filed into the Death Room. I bent over and rested my hands on my knees, panting, the others also trying to regain their breath.

"Quick…" Maka began, still out of breath, "mirror… city… message…"

Lord Death turned to face his mirror in the center of the Death Room, which flashed with a brilliant bright light and then showed me as the Mistress, which I am guessing was just a title that the servants had to use when referring to her.

The Life City's version of me had a wild look in her eyes as she stared at Lord Death through the mirror and then said, "Why hello there! This is Kukuru, live from Noose Palace, Life City. I was delighted to meet those young children you sent to greet us. It's a shame they didn't stay longer."

I shivered when I heard her use my name as her own, but she just laughed a crazed laugh and continued, "As you probably know, I'm not the only one here in this insane little town! Let me have you meet my lover…"

I really wasn't prepared when she introduced her 'lover' to use. The spitting image of Kid appeared on the screen, except everything about him was negatived. In other words, anything that was white on the original Kid was black on the other Kid, and everything black on the original Kid was white on the duplicate Kid. (I hope that makes sense…) Also, his eyes were purple instead of gold but his skin remained pale. He wore a triumphant smirk on his face.

"Wave to the neighbors, Kid!" the opposite me laughed, waving like an idiot.

The other Kid opened his mouth to speak, "My name is Life the Kid. I hope you six enjoyed your little visit."

"What are you doing here? What do you want?!" Maka demanded from behind me somewhere.

"Isn't it obvious by now?" Kukuru said, a little irritated.

"We want your souls!" Life the Kid replied.

"You will not have them!" Lord Death said, staring the two maniacs down.

Kukuru and Life the Kid started laughing.

"Of course you'd say that! But we're not asking for your permission, Reaper!" Kukuru laughed.

Randomly in the background, a servant appeared and asked, "Mistress? Where would you like the towels to be hung this time?"

Kukuru turned around and glared at the servant and hollered, "I told you NOT TO INTERRUPT ME!"

She grabbed hold of a rope hanging from the ceiling, the servant boy begging for mercy. Suddenly, Kukuru pulled down on the rope and two spiked walls zoomed speedily towards each other, the servant in their path. The two spiked walls crushed the servant in between them, resulting in the most revolting noise I'd ever heard. I felt like I was gonna be sick.

"Anyways, we'll be seeing you in the very near future. Until next time…" Life the Kid smiled and both Kukuru and the other Kid disappeared from off the screen, leaving a picture of the mashed remains of the servant in their place. I looked away and clenched my stomach. My head felt dizzy and I collapsed on the ground, feeling very hot, and passed out.

I woke up in my bed at the manor, feeling much better. I wondered, for a second, if what I'd just been through was a dream, when I spotted small amounts of rubble scattered around my floor and some of the pictures on my walls askew.

Sitting up slowly, I rubbed my eyes. I shuddered as I remembered how the servant boy looked as a pile of disgusting, mangled human flesh.

Someone knocked on my door, jarring me out of my thoughts.

"Come in…" I said, noticing I was in my pajamas.

The door opened and Kid walked in and shut the door behind him. He stood, hands in his pockets near the door, "How are you feeling?"

"A lot better." I replied.

He looked at me still and I realized he was probably talking emotional wise, "Oh you mean emotionally or…?"  
>Kid nodded and walked over to my bed and sat on the edge of it, dangling his feet off the side. I moved so I was sitting next to him, also dangling my feet of the side.<p>

"I don't know… This is all just so crazy…" I said, biting my lip.

"Yeah it is. Life City is pretty much exactly the same as Death City, except some things are reversed, like you and I." Kid replied.

I shivered at the mention of Life the Kid and the other Kukuru.

And lo and behold, I started crying again, "Kid… I-I'm so scared…"

Kid gently gathered me in his arms and pulled me onto his lap. I felt my face get a little hot, and I guessed I was blushing. I rested my head against his chest and listened to his heart, still shaking all over.

"Don't be scared," He replied, "You're stronger than you think. We'll find a way to take down Life City."

I smiled slightly at the determination in his voice and nodded, allowing myself to relax, feeling quite safe in Kid's arms.


	7. A Mission Gone Wrong

**Chapter Six**

**A Mission Gone Wrong**

Authors Note: I'm deeply sorry for the long wait. I've been really busy with a lot of things and also lost some motivation to finish this. HOWEVER, I recently re-read this entire fanfiction and dubbed it worthy of finishing, especially with all the good reviews it has gotten. Again, I'm really sorry for the super duper insanely long wait. Rejoice; the tale of madness and love is back on!

I woke up this morning feeling content. I really wish it had stayed that way, but once I remembered the events of the past day, my heart sunk in my chest and I laid there in my bed feeling scared and distressed. Despite my emotions, I got up from my bed and dressed in my clothes, opening the door to the hallway.

As I walked past Blade's room, I noticed that his door was slightly ajar. That was odd for Blade. He usually made sure that his door was closed because he didn't like people messing with his stuff. Curiosity overpowering my senses, I gently pushed open the black door.

It was very dark in Blade's room; the lights were off and the curtains drawn. Clothes were scattered everywhere, along with various papers (mostly mangled homework assignments) and food wrappers. _If Kid saw the state of this room..._ I thought, laughing silently to myself at the image of the reaper falling to his knees and going insane at the ghastly sight of Blade's room.

Suddenly I realized that there was a single, blue glow coming from the corner of the room. I turned to face the dull light and recognized the computer that Kid gave to him to use for homework. Of course, Blade has been using it for other things, taking into account that he really hates homework, but what was on the screen came as a surprise.

Aside from the computer, Blade went out and bought himself one of those tablet things that you hook up to a computer to draw with, because he surprisingly likes to draw. He's been using it quite a bit lately, and I guess what I saw at the moment was what he has been working on.

It was a picture of Blade, but with white hair and pale caramel eyes. He seemed spectral in appearance, and the way his eyes glinted with cold malice caused me to shiver right down to the bone. I slowly back out of the room, making a conjecture that that was probably Life City Blade.

Life City.

It sounded so strange to say even in my own head. I rubbed my forehead with my wrist and let out a small, pained sigh.

"Something wrong?" Blade asked out of nowhere.

I whipped around to see him calmly walking to his door and shutting it quietly. Dammit, now I'd done it.

"No! …. well... yes. I mean... this whole situation. Life City and all that..." I replied, trying to sound casual despite the fact that I had invaded Blade's privacy.

Blade's eyes darkened, "Don't mention that damn city."

My eyes widened and my lips parted slightly in surprise. I'd never seen Blade like this before. He is usually so cheerful and annoying and mischievous. He rarely ever looks as intimidating and scary as he did right now.

"Blade..." I said quietly, pain probably being reflected in my eyes.

Blade looked as if he had suddenly realized he had snapped at me and looked down at the floor, furrowing his eyebrows.

"Just... stay out of my room..." and he left me to go get breakfast.

I just kind of stared after him. I shouldn't have been so rude to him, I mean, I'm sure he's just having a hard time accepting what happened yesterday. I mean God, how the hell can someone just get over seeing that disgusting mangled flesh of the servant boy, or the maniacal stares of those crazy freaks from Life City? I know I haven't.

Shaking slightly, I proceeded to the dining hall, trying to work out the connections between Life City, the little witch, and the trilobite shadows. The mystery of the madness should be, of course, pretty obvious to figure out. I mean, a giant city full of madness infused psychopaths? Clearly that was where the madness has been emanating from all along, causing kishins in Death City to become stronger and harder to kill. But how in Lord Death's name was the witch involved?

"...uru? Kukuru?"

I heard my name being called and I looked up to see Kid staring down at me, a slight look of amusement on his face.

I blushed a little, thinking about the night before, and quickly said, "Eh, uh, yes, what was that again?"

He smiled and said, "I was asking if you were fine with just cereal or something. We need to report to Lord Death's room ASAP."

"Oh, uh, yeah, that's fine..." I answered, still trying to calm myself down, "Sorry, I was just thinking."

"You're a pretty deep thinker to not hear Kid and Patty saying your name nearly five hundred times," Liz exaggerated, smiling smugly.

I laughed, but despite all the jokes and light-hearted conversations, there was an atmosphere of gloom and nervousness, because we all knew what was lurking just outside the manor's protective gates. We had all guessed that kishins from Life City had made their way into Death City overnight and were waiting to attack anyone who ventures outside of their houses. Luckily, we were prepared.

We all finished up a small breakfast together and stood facing the door.

"Here's the plan," Kid began, "we're flying straight to the academy on Beelzebub. There will be no time to stop and fight every kishin we see, especially with their increased power levels. Our best chance is to make a run for the academy."

"What about kishins that can fly?" I asked, remembering the cat kishin we had killed a while back.

"We're just going to have to fly as fast as we can. I'll shoot at them if they get too close, but just in case we are attacked by multiple kishins, have Blade transform into his staff form so you can shoot your soul wavelengths too." Kid instructed me.

Blade nodded and transformed into his staff form, my clothes shimmering into my battle clothes as he did so. Liz and Patty transformed too and Kid held them in the unusual way he had. He summoned Beelzebub and stepped onto it. I stepped on too, facing Kid with Blade as a staff in my right hand.

Suddenly I realized something and asked, "Uh, Kid, how will I keep from falling while holding Blade?"

"Hang on with your left arm and I'll do the rest. Don't worry," Kid said, probably noticing that I was getting nervous, "I won't let you fall."

Staring at his reassuring golden gaze, I knew he was right. He would keep me safe like he always did.

"Okay," I said smiling, "let's go."

Kid gave me this handsome side smile and I blushed, looking away. I nearly forgot to hold on to him, but when he opened the door of the mansion I moved my arm under his right arm and clutched his shoulder from behind. He nudged me a little closer to him with one of his arms, causing me to push my head against his chest. My face felt hot like it had the night before, but why? What was this weird feeling I got whenever stuff like this happened between Kid and I? I never felt this way around Blade... It just makes me so confused!

I shut my eyes in frustration but quickly opened them again as we took off through the doors of the mansion and towards the academy.

Right off the bat, we had a ton of ground kishins taking off after us and some on the rooftops tried to jump up at us before we were high enough above them so that they couldn't. Kid shifted Beelzebub so that he could open fire on them while still maintaining our course for the academy.

A few moments later, a flying kishin that looked like some mangled corpse started closing in on the other side of where Kid was firing so I took the opportunity to fire soul wavelengths from Blade at it. It kind of hurt to fire the wavelengths, and I suddenly realized why and how stupid I had been for not realizing this before. I still had a broken soul, so naturally, trying to fire wavelengths from it would hurt a ton.

But I didn't stop firing, not until the kishin abandoned us, deeming us unworthy of its attention and pain.

However, just as it disappeared from sight, another one rushed at us, but since we had risen far above the rooftops by now, Kid whipped Beelzebub around and open fired at the other kishin. I nearly lost my grip and fell, but Kid swiftly pulled his right arm around me while still firing the pistol he had in that hand, his tight grip and expert recovery of his balance on the flying skateboard saving me from more broken bones. I covered Kid's back as more kishins followed us to the academy, but each shot felt like a blow to the chest. By the time we reached the academy gates, my chest was burning with pain, becoming so unbearable that when we dismounted Beelzebub and made a dash for the doors, kishins hot on our tail, I stumbled and fell to the ground.

"Kukuru!" Blade shouted in weapon form. He immediately transformed into his shield form, covering me as I tried to get up.

"Blade, you know what we have to do..." I said weakly, tears welling in my eyes. Electricity like pain coursed through my body, so much so that even I was freaked out by what I had just suggested.

"No!" Blade shouted as the kishins approached, "we can't..."

"Let's go..." I began, bracing myself for the torturous damage that my actions would inflict upon me," Soul-"

I never finished. Kid grabbed me up from the ground and carried me into the academy, Blade transforming into human again and following after us, shutting the doors just in time so that me were safe and the kishins were locked out. Kid put me down and I sank to my hands and knees.

"Kukuru, what the hell were you thinking?" Kid nearly shouted at me.

Blade looked me. He was breathing hard and visibly shaking. His eyes were wild with fear, and a little bit of anger too.

I can't believe what I almost did to myself, and to Blade as well. A soul resonance, especially with the state my soul was already in, would have been catastrophic.

"I... I don't..." I tried to answer, tears streaming down my cheeks. I ducked my head and clenched my fists.

"I said I would protect you..." Kid said, looking down at me, the fiery tone leaving his voice.

I looked up at him again. He had knelt beside me. Blade was still standing, but his back was to me.

"I remember..." I answered shamefully, tears still pouring from my eyes, "I shouldn't have tried to..."

Instead of more scolding words, I was enveloped in the warmth of a hug.

"Please, don't try to do that to yourself again..." Kid said quietly, catching me off guard.

Gently and slowly moving my arms, I returned the hug, "I... I'm sorry... Kid..."

Blade turned to look at us, trying to act as though nothing had happened, as he usually does, but I could see right through him. I knew he had been crying.

Kid and I parted, and I suddenly realized that the pain in my chest was gone.

_What the hell..._ I thought as I stood up and Blade walked over to me. _What the hell..._

"Ow!" I shrieked, "What the hell?!"

Blade had flicked me in between the eyes.

"Dumbass... don't do that shit again." Blade looked down at my pitiful self who was glaring up at him.

Kid took the opportunity to remove Liz and Patty from his pockets and they transformed back into their human forms.

"Let's not waste anymore time," Kid said, his back to Blade and I, "come on."  
>He began nonchalantly walking towards the Death Room, Liz and Patty following him, Patty chatting up a storm and about clouds and their relationship to ants. Blade began following them too, giving me a sideways glance with a smirk on his face. I followed shortly.<p>

He was a good actor, I'll give him that.

Small white clouds lazily traversed the vast blue skies of the Death Room filled with oddly placed windows. Seemingly endless sand dunes stretched far beyond the boundaries of the room littered with black graves shaped like thin crosses that stuck out at odd angles from the dunes. The massive doors and tall, elegant mirror found on the center platform of the room gave the Death Room an odd atmosphere, almost as if it was made for giants.

Waiting in this strange room was Kid, Patty, Liz, Maka, Soul, Crona, Ragnarok, Lord Death and I. Black Star and Tsubaki were taking longer than expected to arrive and everyone was getting a little fidgety. Surely the great assassin hadn't been bested by the kishins? Or maybe it was something worse that had gotten to him... but we were trying not to think about that.

Finally, the doors to the Death Room opened, and everyone prepared to greet Black Star and Tsubaki, but the people who came through the doors actually ended up being Stein and Spirit. Confused and even more worried than before, everyone looked to Lord Death for an answer.

"Well, well, it seems as though we have a bit of a problem on our hands," Lord Death said, pointing out the obvious and turning towards his mirror.

The mirror filled up with a blinding white light as Lord Death gazed into it, "Many students and their weapons have gone missing this morning, but Black Star and Tsubaki are one of our strongest pairs. You do realize what this means?"

"Of course, Lord Death." Maka replied.

"Wait," Spirit began turning his attention to Lord Death, "you're sending my Maka out to find Black Star and Tsubaki when there are tons of kishins out? And who could possibly be locked up in Life City?!"  
>"Spirit, what Lord Death is doing is for the best," Stein replied, shifting his gaze from Maka, who was steaming with annoyance at her father, "they're all part of their resonance team, with the exception of Crona, Ragnarok, Blade and Kukuru, however their combined powers will be useful anyway. Maka should be able to sense Black Star and Tsubaki's souls, and on top of that the teachers and staff need to stay here at the DWMA to protect the remaining students that we possess at all costs and clear out the kishins from Death City."<p>

Spirit furrowed his eyebrows and stared at the floor but didn't say anything. He clenched his fists tightly as well.

My eyes widened as it suddenly dawned on me that I would be going on this expedition too, despite being significantly weaker than the rest of the people going. Blade must've noticed it at the same moment that I did since he gave me a sideways glance, eyes flashing with a mixture of determination and worry. I wish I wasn't such a burden for people. People like Kid and Blade are always worrying about me, and not without good reason, but I hated being so weak and scared all the time. Maybe this mission would be a chance for a change. Maybe...

I gave Blade a small smile and he gave me a look of surprise. All the strength drained from my limbs at the thought of entering Life City to find Black Star, but I closed my eyes and willed myself to stand tall. Nothing was going to keep me from going with them and proving that maybe I'm not as weak and spineless as I thought.

"Your objective is simple. Search Death City for Black*Star and Tsubaki, and if you can't find them, proceed to look for them from within Life City. Be extremely cautious. We don't need more students going missing." Stein instructed.

We all nodded and were dismissed by Lord Death.

Once we exited the Death Room, Liz asked Maka, "So what's the plan?"

"I think we should split up to cover more ground but not into individual pairs. If Black*Star and Tsubaki were captured fighting by themselves then I don't think we should go anywhere without at least one other weapon-meister pair." Maka reasoned out loud as we made our way towards the entrance to the DWMA.

"I'll go with Blade and Kukuru, then." Kid replied, opening the heavy doors to the outside.

Maka nodded and turned to Crons, smiling, "That means you're with me."

Crona returned a sheepish smile and set off with Maka and Soul. I watched after them as they headed off, Blade joining me at my side.

"So, where do we start, Kid?" I asked, turning to face him, trying to ignore Life City in the background.

Kid looked around a moment and turned to me, "We'll go in the opposite direction they're going and sweep up and down the streets. If all goes smoothly we'll be able to meet up with them halfway around the city."

"Sounds good." Liz added, stretching her arms and turning into her weapon form along with Patty.

Blade transformed into his hooked sword form and my clothes shimmered into my battle clothes. I walked side by side with Kid down the steps and we began our search in the streets, occasionally asking around. Surprisingly, there weren't as many kishin as we had encountered earlier that morning.

"Seems like the instructors are doing a good job clearing out the city." Kid remarked as we finished our inquiry with an elderly woman.

"I guess so." I replied, swiveling my head to get a good long look at the roads and houses surrounding us. It was a good way to distract myself from my fear.

Silence reigned our little party for some time until Kid nonchalantly asked, "So what's up with your clothes changing every time you wield Blade?"

"Honestly I have no idea," I reply, smiley slightly and shrugging my shoulders, "it's kind of weird huh?"

"Pshhh, my ability makes you look way better than you normally do so I'd stuff it if I were you." Blade replied.

I gave him the angriest look I could, "I beg your pardon?"

His reflection flashed in his weapon form, a stupid smirk on his face.

"Why you-"

Suddenly, a large explosion shook the ground and I nearly dropped Blade. Kid whipped his head in the direction of the explosion and looked back at me. I nodded and he grabbed my hand and began running at full throttle towards the explosion. I tried my best to keep up, but I felt like my breath wasn't getting into my lungs and my face felt hot again. That does it. After we get back to Death City, I'm going to ask Stein, Nygus, Blade, Kid, SOMEONE what's wrong with me. Maybe it's just my whacked out soul, I dunno.

Eventually, we turned a corner where we bumped into Crona, Ragnarok, Soul and Maka fending off against some sort of kishin. Or was she a witch? I honestly couldn't tell. She seemed to possess elements of both. She was flying up in the sky, sort of propped up by these tanish bandages. She wore a dark purple hood that obstructed her face and matching sort of a leotard like gymnasts might wear. She also wore white socks that came up to her upper calves and bandages were wrapped around her arms and legs, knife scabbards also strapped around her thighs and upper arms. She wore jet black pointed boots that came up to a little past her knees and black, wrist high gloves. She seemed to resemble a witch. Maybe she was?

I looked over at Maka who was breathing hard, blood dripping down the side of her face. I cast my worried glance at Kid but he still just stared at the floating lady in an ominous way, his expression dark.

"Kid, Kukuru, watch out!" Maka screamed. Before I knew what was happening, the bandages of the witch-kishin sped quick as lightning towards the both of us. Kid pushed me to the ground, willing himself to fall with me. The bandages didn't scratch me at all, but two of them cut across Kid's back. I hit the ground hard, dropping Blade a foot or two from where I fell. Kid landed on his hands and knees over me. I could feel something drip down on me and realized it was his blood. I looked up at him over my right shoulder, chest tight with fear. Kid was grimacing from the pain but slowly got up on his feet and I quickly grabbed Blade off the ground and stood up again. The witch-kishin was engaged in battle with Crona and Ragnarok, Maka quickly joining.

To my surprise, Kid ran forward, firing his soul wavelengths at the witch-kishin. At first, I could only just stand there until Blade yelled, "Hey! Kukuru! Let's go help them."

I nodded and ran towards the fight. The witch-kishin was flinging bandages this way and that, and even engaging in hand to hand combat at the same time. In an instant, bandages fly through the air towards me but I fend them off with Blade. However, more kept coming so I kept slashing and hacking at them. I saw Crona up ahead attempt to land a hit on the witch-kishin but she dodged all of his attacks,and in an instant ducked under his sword and slammed her palm into his chest, a dark energy engulfing Crona and sending him flying backwards, slamming directly into a wall. Maka performed Soul Resonance and swung the Witch Hunter at the attacker, who swiftly turned and clasped both sides of Soul's scythe form with her gloved hands and tossed it aside, engaging in hand to hand with Maka. Kid and I exchanged glances and I cut through the rest of the bandages and headed straight for the witch-kishin, my stomach lurching with fear. I swing right at the back of her head, but, as if she had eyes in the back of her head, she dodged it and kicked me square in the stomach without so much as a glance at me. I cringed backwards but started forward again despite the pain and yelled at the top of my lungs as I approach, this time ready for this strange lady's eyes-in-the-back-of-her-head technique. I swung with Blade but at the slightest move of the witch-kishin's limbs towards me, Blade transforms into the spiked shield and I press my shoulder into it, ducking my head behind the protective metal. I felt the collision of the witch-kishin's leg on the spikes of Blade's shield form and allow myself a small smirk. I use all my body force to twist the shield, hoping to take the lady with me but she just pulls her leg off the spikes like it was nothing and somehow I end up smashing into a wall next to where Crona had moments before.

I temporarily closed my eyes in pain and opened them just in time to see more bandages and what appeared to be dark magic throttling towards me. I tossed myself to the side, holding Blade in a way to protect my exposed side, but the bandages still manage to pierce my ankles and the tops of my shoulders. I dropped Blade yet again. Screaming in pain, I felt myself being lifted up by the bandages, simultaneously feeling them rip through my flesh. Bandages coil around my wrists, waist and neck, tightening like a constrictor snake as I choke, trying to move my arms to free my neck of the bandages. However, the bandages on my wrists and ankles pull my arms and legs away from my body, I close my eyes in fear and open them again when the bandages force me to look skyward.

Is this the end?

In an instant, the bandages loosen and I feel myself falling.

I guess it is...

But surprise! I didn't die. Kid zoomed under me and caught me like he had back in the mineshaft outside Las Vegas.

He carefully dropped me on my feet on Beelzebub, and I shook like crazy. That was horrifying... but exhilarating... but terrifying... but really awesome...

But really really painful.

I clutched my shoulder, carefully holding onto Kid's arm with my free hand, the hand on my shoulder warm and sticky with my blood.

"We need to get Blade..." I managed to say, closing my left eye tightly after feeling blood drip down onto my eyebrow.

"No problem. We just have to get out of here and find Black*Star and Tsubaki." Kid replied, lowering Beelzebub swiftly to the ground, allowing me to retrieve Blade as his shield form.

"Kukuru, are you okay?!" Blade asked me, extremely concerned.

"Are we just going to leave Maka and Crona to fight that insane woman?!" I blurted out, completely ignoring Blade.

Kid furrowed his eyebrows as he took off away from the battle, "Do you know what she is, Kukuru?"

"I was thinking maybe a witch or something?" I asked, confused.

Kid shook his head, "She's a Kishin."

"She doesn't really look much like one. Shouldn't she be easier to kill? Even with all the madness from Life City?" I asked as he swerved the skateboard sharply, forcing me to grasp onto him tightly and unexpectedly fall onto his chest again. I blushed and the irritation rises like fire in my stomach.

Kid looked down at me a moment, lips slightly parted and a strange look on his face that I couldn't quite decipher but he closed his mouth and looked up again and answered my question, "She's no ordinary kishin egg. She's a full blooded, powerful breed of Kishin like the one Black*Star, Maka, our weapons and I all faced off against. No doubt she fits into this crazy picture somehow. If only I knew how..."

Kid furrowed his eyebrows again and appeared to be thinking hard so I took it upon myself to be on the look out for Black*Star and Tsubaki. I felt very light, like the kind of light you feel like when you have massive amounts of adrenaline pumping through your veins and can't sit still, more or less stand still. A chill goes down my spine as I think about what a dire situation the DWMA and all its students are in right now. A Kishin, a witch, an army of trilobite kishin eggs and an entire city jam packed with kishin psychopaths all ready to pounce at a moments notice. This was not looking good.

Later, we find ourselves heading to Life City, having found no trace of Black*Star or Tsubaki. We had alerted Stein, Spirit and Lord Death of the Kishin and Stein and Spirit had been sent to help Maka and Crona. Hopefully with his help, they could take her down.

The small traces of courage I had drained out of me as we approached the city gates of Life City, mere feet from the gates of Death City. We crossed above the walls and found the other side to be eerily empty. I found myself clutching Kid's arms tightly.

He looked down at me, his features soft and calming, "Don't worry. Remember, you're stronger than you think."

"I guess..." I replied, "I just... we're both injured and I''m freaked out by this place and everything that's going on..."  
>Everyone was silent for a few seconds, just the wind the only audible sound dominating out ears.<p>

I felt Kid take in a breath and I looked up at him, waiting for him to speak, but he kind of let the breath go again. I raised an eyebrow at him.

He somewhat hesitantly started to speak, "Listen, Kukuru. Anything can happen now... and, just in case... I... need to tell you-"

Pain engulfed my entire body and I felt myself falling off of Beelzebub towards the concrete streets of the cursed city, Blade still strapped to my back in his shield form. I try landing on my feet and then dropping to my knees and rolling to keep the impact from causing too much damage but it still hurts like hell. Blinded by tears of pain, I quickly rub my eyes with my left wrist, clutching Blade as a shield in my other. I tried to take a step forward but a wave of electricity like pain shoots up my legs and I moan in agony, but manage to stay upright.

Once my vision cleared, my chest tenses up again and I want to scream. Life City Blade is holding Kid up by a sword emanating from his forearm, which was lodged right in Kid's gut. Blood dripped from the wound and Kid's mouth, Liz and Patty screaming for their meister.

Life City Blade tosses Kid's limp body aside, and tears well up in my eyes.

No. Nononono. I'm not just going to stand here and watch this happen.

"Blade, transform into your staff form." I ordered him, unflinching at the approaching ghost like double of Blade.

"But Kukuru-"

"Just DO IT!" I shrieked, my body trembling furiously and my mind going eighty miles an hour.

Blade transformed and I hold the cold metal staff in my right palm. I outstretched my arm and slam the staff bottom into the pavement. It broke just as my heart did at the sight of Kid being stabbed by that ruthless killer. I'll make him pay. I'll make them all pay.

"Let's go," I began, Blade not even daring to stop me, "Soul Resonance."  
>A dark aura engulfed my frame as my skin turns pale white and my clothes become black as night, along with my hair and my eyes. Black tears stream down my cheeks, and I grip Blade's staff form with both hand, aiming the orb end of the staff directly at Life City Blade.<p>

"Weeping Soul!" I screamed, my voice sounding like a thousand voices mixed into one.

The orb on the end of Blade's staff form glows cyan blue and then propels a massive soul wavelength beam, landing a direct hit on Life City Blade. He flew backward and landed hard on the ground, cyan energy coursing across his body, his frame twitching this way and that.

My appearance returns to normal and I fall to my knees, extremely dizzy but I forced myself onto my feet and ran to Kid, who was surrounded by Liz and Patty, both incredibly worried, Liz with tears falling down her face.

"Come on! We have to get him back to Doctor Stein, and quickly before anyone of our other doubles show up!" I exclaimed.

Liz and I do our best to try and carry Kid between us while Patty tries tp get him to wake up. Fear grips my insides and I feel like I might throw up as Kid's blood seeps through his suit onto my hand that's supporting his stomach. Blade watches our backs as we make our way towards the gate.

_This is bad. This is really really really bad, _I think to myself.

Suddenly, Life City Liz and Patty appeared behind us just as I looked over my shoulder. Patty looked like some freakishly happy clown and Liz looked like a clown as well but a sad one with long, spindly, sharp fingers. Both had chains around their necks and were advancing on us. I knew we wouldn't make it out of the city, and the Soul Resonance I had taken the risk of pulling off was beginning to take its toll on me, my legs becoming weaker and weaker with every step.

Oh God...

"Looks like somebody could use a little help from the biggest man who will ever live! YAHOO!" I heard a familiar voice shout behind me.

I couldn't help but smile as I turned my head to see Black*Star fending off the Life City weapons with Tsubaki as a black Japanese sword.

"Quick, this is our chance!" Liz barked. Our group quickened our pace and made it past the gates of Life City and back into Death City, Black*Star and Tsubaki following while still keeping Life City Liz and Patty at bay. Maybe I'd actually survive this.

I found myself sitting next to the infirmary bed. It was my turn to worry about Kid's condition. After entering Death City and making it back to the DWMA, I had passed out again for some time, but lucky for me it wasn't anything crazy like a week or a few days or even just one day. Only a couple hours. Strange.

What was also strange was that Stein told me that no new tears had formed in my soul, despite using Soul Resonance and firing the huge wavelength at Life City Blade. After I woke up, I found Kid still out cold so I sat next to him, and well, here I still am.

I hold his hand gently while waiting for him to wake up, his stomach stitched and bandaged earlier by Stein. My whole frame trembles as I recount the day's events. Insanity... not even Lord Death's son could handle so many powerful Kishin in one day. Not even I could. Nor could anyone else.

"You sure love him, don't you?" Blade asked from our of nowhere, making me jump.

"W-what?" I replied, completely flustered. Love...?

Blade gives me a look, "Oh come on Cookie. You blush all the time around him, you like spending time with him, you think he's handsome, you defend him with anything and everything on the battle field after it looked like he almost died, and right now you're holding his hand. Don't tell me that's not love."

I feel the heat rising in my face gain and my chest flutters. I feel dizzy. Am I sick? Or am I really in love with Kid?

"I-I-" I begin but the words don't come that easily. My mind is completely scrambled.

Blade flashed a smile at me, "It's okay. I mean, from the sound of it, I think he was going to tell you that he loved you too. Back before the other me almost killed him, I mean."

I feel like I'm going to explode or throw up or maybe both, I don't know. Everything seems to make sense but also doesn't at the same time. My head is spinning and I can't control my tongue.

Blade just smiles, and before I can try to clear my head and say something back to him, Maka, Soul, Crona, Ragnarok, Black*Star, Tsubaki, Liz and Patty all charge in the room.

"When did Stein finish operating on him? I didn't hear about this!" Liz exclaimed, standing opposite me on the other side of Kid.

Patty giggled, "Kid looks so funny sleeping."  
>"Hey Kukuru, how's he doing?" Maka asks, my mind still in a fog.<p>

"Erm, eh, what? Oh, uh, good, I think. At least, that's what Stein, um, says." I reply, trying but failing to focus.

She looks at me curiously but everyone else starts talking about where Black*STar and Tsubaki were.

"Well, we got captured by Blade's evil version but we managed to esca-" Tsubaki began but Black*Star interjected.

"BEAT THE LIVING SHIT OUTTA THEM AND WHOOP THEIR SORRY ASSES INTO NEXT YEAR! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA" And he just started laughing manically for a while/.

Tsubaki smiled apologetically and added, "We actually just managed to trick him so we could escape and then came after the evil versions of Liz and Patty so Black*Star could seek revenge."

"Oh." Soul says simply, staring at Black*Star.

Kid began to stir and opened his eyes. He met my gaze and I breathed a sigh of relief. He squeezed my hand and I felt my breath be taken away. I wondered if what Blade had said about him going to tell me he loved me was true or not.

I blushed as I realized there were other people in the room and slowly withdrew my hands from Kid's hand. He smiled knowingly and turned to talk with everyone else, recounting what had happened after leaving the fight with the Kishin. Maka also told of how Stein arrived in time to fend off the Ksishin and take them back to the DWMA for the time being. She also reported seeing a witch that she described to be like the witch that Kid and I saw at Vegas and in our memories together. This troubles me deeply. So the witch, the Kishin, the trilobite kishins and Life City are for sure all connected now? Wonderful.

Everything is so confusing! This whole maddening situation and my feelings and Kid's feelings. What am I going to do? All I can do is brace for whatever else tomorrow is going to throw at me.


End file.
